Trust
by Revie
Summary: There is only one thing Ranger can't forgive, betrayal. When his dark past catches up with Stephanie will he be able to protect the one person he loves after she does the one thing he swore never to forgive?
1. Newly Updated Version

Author's note: It's been a VERY long time since I have posted and I apologize about that! Now that I have some time, I fully intend on finishing this story and posting a few others I've been working on. I have edited and added some things to the original story and will post the next chapter within the day. The story has taken a turn I didn't even intend to take, but I promise all will work out. If anyone is still interested, let me know and I'll try to get everything posted quickly! J

Authors Note: I reposted this story about a year ago, and I have since gone through and edited it and changed some things. The story line is still the same, I just added and took some stuff out. I hope you enjoy, I am working on finishing it.

. Prologue

Everyone knows that eventually their time on earth will come to an end and they'll make that trip up to the bakery in the sky, but I sure thought my time here would be a heck of a lot longer. Yet here I am about to die and I know neither one of the hunky men that frequent my life is going to crash in and save me.

I knew Morelli wouldn't save me since he was still a little pissed that he spent two nights at St. Joseph's Hospital puking his guts up. It see_ms _after _someone_ caught him in bed with Terri Gillmen just _days _after I'd been in his bed, they poisoned his food. Hhmm, I wonder who?

But as sure as I was about Morelli not coming to the rescue, I was even more positive that Ranger wouldn't be saving me. I'd betrayed him, his trust, his team and his love. One thing Ranger won't forgive is betrayal, and that's just what I did.

So here I am, tied up to a chair in the middle of a warehouse with two guns pointed at my head and a bomb strapped to my chest. Yup, this is it for me.

3 weeks earlier

"Hey Connie." I said walking into the office. "Anything new for me?"

"Oh yeah, I got something new for you." Connie replied with that look in her eye that told me she had some major gossip.

"Spill it."

"What's in it for me?" Connie asked.

"Doughnuts, tomorrow." I replied.

"Ok deal." She agreed. "It seems as if there's a new bounty hunter in town, and honey, let me tell you he just might beat Morelli's fine ass and Ranger's gorgeous looks." My mouth dropped open.

"A man with a nicer ass then Morelli and better looking then Ranger? Come on, Connie such a man doesn't exist. Maybe he's easy on the eyes, but nobody is better looking than Ranger." Connie just shrugged.

"See for yourself." She said as the office door opened. I turned and came pretty close to having an instant orgasm. He was tall, probably about 6'2, with dark hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. His square hard-set jaw and his wide shoulders told me I didn't want to be on his bad side. But in the back of my head, I knew Ranger still had him beat in looks. As for that ass, Morelli would just have to settle for second place.

"Anything yet?" The guy asked Connie.

"Umm, ahh, yeah." Connie replied slightly intimidated. "Here." She handed him a folder.

"Thanks." He replied. Then he turned and gave me a once over. He must have liked what he saw, because he stuck out his hand. "Riley Bradsaw." I stared at it for a moment not quite sure what to do.

"S-Stephanie Plum." I muttered, while shaking his hand.

"She one of the other bounty hunters Vinnie employ's." Connie supplied.

With an amused look on his face Riley replied. "Nice." A second later, Lula decided to grace the office with her presence. She stopped, looked from me to Riley, then to Connie.

"He's Vinnie's new bounty hunter." Connie replied after a moment of silence. Lula just grunted and sat down behind her desk.

"I'm new here, maybe you could show me around sometime?" Riley asked me. Before I could even replied, Lula barked.

"I wouldn't be putting no moves on Steph here, she's got herself a big bad ass boyfriend, who won't take kindly to you sweet talk'n her." Both Connie and I stared at Lula. This wasn't like her at all. And the boyfriend thing wasn't completely right either. I called it quits on Morelli nearly a month ago, and I wasn't quite sure what has been going on between Ranger and I.

"Lula." I hissed. Then I turned back to Riley. "If you need help around the city, I'd be more then glad to show you around."

Riley smiled. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Bye ladies." He threw over his shoulder as he left.

I turned to Lula. "What was that all about!" I practically screamed.

"He's a cop." Lula replied.

"No, he's a bounty hunter, not a cop." I tried to clarify.

"I can smell cops a mile away, he's a cop." Lula said matter-a-factly. "Man I hate cops, now I got to go get me some fried chicken before I get the runs." Lula huffed and headed for the door. A minute later the door opened again and a warm hand settled on the back of my neck.

"Babe." He said by way of a greeting. "Vinnie in?"

"Yeah, got back about an hour ago." Ranger nodded and headed for his office. "Here." Connie said, handing me three folders. "First ones Laudy Micks, 78 years old. She got caught shop lifting thong under wear from Macy's." I had to laugh at that. "Seconds Tyler Bates, 18 year old kid that got picked up for fleeing from a cop giving him a speeding ticket. Last one you might want to get some help on. James Whitly, assault with a deadly weap….." Connie look up behind me.

"Sorry, I forgot the folder." Riley said walking back into the office. He smiled at me. He started to walk out, then he stopped and turned around. "I couldn't help but over hear that you might need help on that last skip. If you want some, I could help and at the same time you could show me around?" He suggested.

I was planning on just asking Ranger, but since Riley offered I figured I take him up on it. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to have someone covering my back."

I grabbed my files, said my good byes to Connie and followed Riley out the door. An odd feeling came over me as I pulled myself up into the cab of Riley's truck. It was one of those feelings you get when you know you shouldn't be doing something, or that something was wrong. Ranger had always said I had good instincts and that I should listen to them, but then the rational side of my brain kick in. Here I was sitting right next to Trenton's new hotty, no way I was going to pass up this opportunity.

2 HOURS LATER

"My buildings right around the corner." I told Riley. "Thanks for helping me out tonight. I would have had a rough time by myself."

"Not a problem. We should do this again sometime." Riley replied pulling into my apartment building lot.

"What? Catch a skip?" I asked while opening the door to Riley's truck.

"No, go out."

"Oh, well…" I started to say.

"Hey, you don't have to give me an answer right now. It was just a suggestion."

"No, um…. I would like to go out again. I just have to find time."

"Well, do you have anything Friday night?"

The only thing I in mind for Friday night was dinner at my parents and I would do anything for an excuse not to go. "No, Friday nights good."

"Great, is around 8 pm ok?"

"Fine." I said as I hopped out of Riley's truck.

"Ok then, I'll see you Friday." Riley replied before driving away.

*** Later that night ***

I awoke to someone lightly brushing hair away from my face. The hot little shivers running through my body told me it was Ranger. I glanced sideways at my bedside alarm, 3:32 am. "Ranger, it's the middle of the night. What are you doing here?"

"I have a job for you."

"This couldn't have waited until tomorrow?"

"I didn't have time to talk to you tomorrow and the job needs to go down tomorrow night."

"What kind of job?"

"Standard decoy."

"What's the guys wanted for?" I knew from past experience this wasn't a very good question to ask, but I asked it anyway.

"Rape and attempted murder."

I knew I shouldn't have asked. "I always get the fun jobs." I muttered.

"I'll pick you up at 7pm tomorrow, or should I say tonight. Your dress is on your kitchen table. Everything else is up to you." He leaned down and placed a light kiss on my lips then he was gone.

*** Later that Night ***

I was applying my fifth and final coat of mascara when my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Babe, I'm sending Tank over to pick you up, I'll meet you at the bar before you go in to go over all the details."

"Tanks as in the 6'7 giant that likes to throw men out windows?" I asked in a slightly high pitched voice.

"One and only." Was the only reply I got before I heard the line go dead. I had met Ranger's group of 'merry men' on only a few occasions and all of the scared the hell out of me. I jumped when a deep voice rumbled from my living room.

"Ms. Plum, we need to get going if we're going to meet Ranger at 7."

I peeked out around my bathroom door into my living room. Sure enough Tank stood in the middle of it in full combat gear. He gave me a slight smile. He grabbed my coat off the back of my couch and when I approached him, helped me into it. Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all?

The drive to the bar The Upper Deck on Stark Street was surprisingly comfortable. Tank, like Ranger zoned out when he drove, which left me to my thoughts. I smiled when I remember my date with Riley tomorrow evening.

"We're here." Tanks voice broke my concentration. Ranger opened the Bronco's door and slide in next to me.

"Babe, looking good." I looked down at the charcoal gray dress the stuck to my body like plastic wrap and had to smile. I admit, I did look pretty darn good! "Here's a panic button in case things go wrong." Ranger said placing the device in my purse. Next he slid his hands down my dress and clipped a mic into place. "The guys name is Reynolds, all you have to do is get him to walk out through those doors and we'll handle the rest. He's known to be a slippery bastard so stay on your toes." I nodded. "If anything goes wrong, I have guys placed inside. Do you remember what Bobby and Lester looked like?" Again I nodded in conformation. "Good, both are inside if anything should happen. All set?"

"It's in the bag." I replied with a slight smile. Ranger grinned, then leaned down to kiss me. Our relationship was starting to get really confusing.

"Go show him what you're made of."

I slide out of the truck and walked into the bar. It took me a moment to locate Reynolds who was sitting alone at the bar. I walked over and took the seat next to him. When I looked up at the bar tender who asked for my drink, I realized it was Lester. "I'll have a rum and coke."

"It's on me." Reynolds spoke from beside me. I looked over and smiled at him.

"Thanks, it's been a long day." I replied with a smile and bat of the eyelashes.

"I've got time, tell me about it." I launched into a bullshit story about breaking up with a boyfriend. I could tell he bought every word. "You know, I could help you forget about him."

I forced a smile onto my face. "I'd like that."

"Maybe we should head back to my place." Yes! I thought finally an excuse to get him outside.

"That would be great." I got up slipped my jacket back on and started to head toward the front door. A hand clamped around my arm.

"I'm parked out back." Reynolds said leading me toward the back exit. I glanced sideways at Lester, he gave me a slight shake of the head.

"Oh, well, I'm parked out front maybe I should just follow you?" I said trying to free my arm.

"No I think my car will do fine." His gripped tighten.

"It's really best if I just follow you." I pulled harder on my arm. While I reached into my purse with my other hand, searching for my panic button. I felt something sharp press into the middle of my back.

"Walk bitch before I shove this knife so deep it comes out the other side." Well that had me walking pretty quick. I looked over and locked eyes with Lester. He was pushing his way around the bar trying to reach me before Reynolds had me out the back door. But of course as always with my luck a bar fight broke out and Lester got caught in the crowd, Reynolds used the distraction and shoved me out the door. I tired to wiggle free but all I succeed in doing was pressing the knife harder into my back. Panicked I kicked my foot backwards and caught Reynolds in the shin with my high heels. His grip loosened and I jerked free. I started to run toward the ally opening when a body tackled me to the ground. The person rolled on top of me at the same moment I heard a gun shot. I struggled to get up but no matter how hard I kicked and pushed the body didn't move.

"Stop moving." A deep voice I recognized as Tanks whispered in my ear. Immediately all the fight left me and I laid still beneath him. Finally Tank Pushed off me and pulled me up as he stood. Once I was standing I saw that Reynolds had been shot in the leg and was now being cuffed by Lester.

"Babe, you ok?" Ranger asked when he approached us. I nodded, too shaky to answer. "Nice work." Ranger gave me a grin. "Come on I'll take you home." He settled his hand on my back and started to lead me towards the Bronco. I stumbled when he suddenly stopped walking. He turned me around then called for Bobby who was wrapping Reynolds leg. "Bring the med kit here, Steph took some damage." Took some damage? I didn't hurt anywhere, but the next thing I knew I was draped over Rangers knees while Bobby cleaned the knife wound on my back. I vaguely remember climbing into Rangers Truck and being carried into my apartment.

The next morning the phone woke me up. "Hello." I sleepily answered.

"Stephanie, it's Riley. Sorry to wake you, I thought you'd be up by now." I perked up a little when I heard Riley's voice.

"No, it's fine. It about time I got up." I assured him.

"I hope you don't mind I got your number from Connie. I wanted to make sure we were still on for tonight." Tonight, I completely forgot about our date. My back throbbed just thinking about getting out of bed.

"Oh well, last night I kinda hurt my back well chasing a skip, I'm not sure if I'm up to going out tonight."

"Oh, well … if you don't want to go out, I could bring dinner over to your place?" How sweet.

"Sure, I'll like that, is 8 still ok?"

"Eight will be great." After giving him my apartment number I climbed out of bed and hobbled to the kitchen. A note from Ranger telling me to call him when I got up, sat on the table. I crumpled it up and pulled left over pizza out of the fridge. I called Ranger and then spent the rest of the day lying around my apartment.

By the time Riley arrived I was feeling better and more than ready for some company. As promised, he brought dinner and a movie. The Chinese food was great and his movie picks weren't too bad.

"So, do you like it here?" I asked.

"Now that I have a friend I do."

I smiled. "What brought you to Trenton?"

"Some unfinished business." Riley replied with a shrug.

"So the bounty hunter thing is just for enjoyment?"

With a laugh he, replied "If you call it enjoyment."

For the next three hours we talked about our families, friends and work. I even told him a few of my car heaven stories. By the end of the evening I realized I had taken a definite likening to him. He was easy to talk to, funny and honest. So naturally when he asked me to accompany him to the Ranger's game later in the week I agreed. Already he had found one of my weaknesses.

*** Later in the week ***

"Thanks for asking me to come Riley, I really enjoyed the game."

"Your definitely welcome. I couldn't have had a better night." He stepped out of the truck with me.

"You know next week….."

"Shh!" Riley whispered pulling me behind him.

"What?" I asked just as quiet.

"Someone's watching us." He replied, eyes scanning the lot.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I don't know, something just doesn't feel right."

I looked around the lot, and picked out a black Ford Expedition parked in the back. I knew it had to be Ranger's. "I think I know who it is." I informed Riley. "See that Ford over there?" I pointed toward the Expedition. "That's sorta a friend of mines truck."

"You're positive that's your friends truck?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"I'm going to go check it, just to make sure."

About halfway across the lot Riley stopped. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Stephanie." We both whirled around at the sound of someone else's voice.

"Ranger?" I squinted at the figure in the dark. I felt Riley take a step closer to me.

"Bradsaw, you move another inch, your dead." The deadly tone in Ranger's voice told me he was serious.

"Ranger? What's going on." I asked.

"Babe, come here."

"But …"

"Stephanie, now." I knew when he used my full name he meant business. I started to move toward Ranger. Riley moved with me.

"Not another step Bradsaw." His gun was trained on Riley's head. "Come on Steph." Ranger encouraged again. This time when I started walking, Riley stayed where he was.

"Manoso." Riley spat, once I reached Ranger's side. "Is this any way to treat an old buddy?"

"You listen to me Bradsaw. I'm only going to say this once. Leave Trenton now and it won't get ugly. If you're not gone within 6 hours…" Ranger glanced over his shoulder at me. "I'm not even going to finish that phrase, let just say you'll be MIA. Got it?"

"Sure, sure old buddy, whatever you say." Riley laughed. "I knew my stay in Trenton was going to be enjoyable." He turned to me. "I'll see you later Steph." Ranger and I watched as he got in his truck and drove away.

"What was that all about!" I demanded as Ranger holstered his gun.

"Let's go up stairs." Ranger said grabbing my arm and all but dragging me into the apartment.

I was a little confused by that whole confrontation. Apparently Riley and Ranger had met before and it sure didn't sound like it ended on good terms. I waited until we got into my apartment to question Ranger. "Ranger what's going on!"

"Babe listen to me, stay away from him."

"Ranger really…."

"No!" Ranger all but shouted. I'd never heard Ranger raise his voice like that. "No, don't say anything, just listen to me and stay the hell away from him, got it?"

"Ranger, he's Vinnie's new bounty hunter. He was just helping me bring a skip in, I'm sure…"

"Did you just hear what I said?" Ranger's menacing voice questioned. "Do not go near him."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Ok, now I'm pissed. "You can't tell me what to do, you aren't…"

"DAMN IT STEPHANIE!" Now Ranger yelled. My mouth snapped shut. "For once in your life LISTEN to me, DO NOT GO NEAR HIM!" I didn't say anything for a minute, I just stood there.

"I don't understand." I finally said.

"You don't have to understand, just listen to me please. Please, Babe."

"Ok, ok. I don't know what you're so upset about, but I'll listen. I won't go near him."

Ranger reached over and kissed me lightly in the lips. "Thank you Babe." He headed for the door. "Lock up behind me."

"Tank." Ranger said into his cell, once he reached the Expedition. "Bradsaw's in town."

"Bradsaw? As in Riley Bradsaw?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck. How did we miss that?"

"I don't fucking know, but we're going to find out. And even worse, apparently him and Steph have buddied up."

"Shit. This is bad."

"I want you or Lester on her 24/7."

"Done."

"Get everyone up, I want everyone in the conference room at 2100 hours."

Chapter 2

"The Burg's been talking." Connie said to me the next morning when I walked into Vinnie's. "It seems as if Ranger and some unidentified man were going at in your apartment parking lot last night."

"Imagine that." I said while placing a box of doughnuts on her desk.

"Imagine what?" Lula asked barreling in the door.

"Last night Ranger and some man where fighting in Steph's lot." Connie said.

"Girl, who was fighting in your lot?" Lula questioned.

"Ranger and Riley."

"Riley the new bounty hunter?" Connie asked.

"Yeah. It was really weird, one minute we were walking toward my building, the next Ranger was behind us with his gun pointed at Riley chest telling him to leave town while he had a chance." I said.

"Ranger pulled his gun on Riley?" Connie asked astounded.

"Yeah." I replied. "From what I can gather, they've met before and whatever happened wasn't good."

"What did Riley do when Ranger pulled his gun?"

"He laughed! He actually laughed."

"I wouldn't be laughing if that man had a gun pointed at me." Connie said shaking her head. "What did Ranger say after Riley left?"

"He told me to stay away from him." I replied with a shrug.

"If Ranger be telling me to stay away from someone, I'd listen." Lula said.

"Yeah." I muttered.

"You are going to listen, right?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, sure I will."

The front door to the office opened. "Morning Ladies." Riley said as he walked in. Well speak of the devil. "Steph." He said to me by way of a greeting.

"Riley." I practically stuttered.

"I have to speak with Vinnie for a moment, but was wondering if you'd like to join me for lunch?"

"Lunch?" Was this man insane? Ranger had threatened to kill him if he didn't leave town. Yet here he is asking me to lunch? If I was him I'd be half way across the state by now.

"Are you in?" I remembered Ranger's warning and was about to say 'hell no'. But then my curiosity got the best of me and I realized that Ranger would never tell me what went bad between the two and if I ever wanted to know (which I badly did) it would have to come from Riley. After all, what could he do in a crowded restaurant?

"Sure."

"Really"

I didn't take time to second guess myself. "Yeah."

"Great. What's good around here?"

"Um… Pino's has good pizza." I supplied. Not only that but it be filled with cops this time of day.

"I can do pizza. Do you want to wait for me and we can drive together?"

I defiantly wasn't that stupid. If Ranger felt the need to warn about this guy, even though I wasn't listening to that warning, I will at least be cautious around him. And being cautious meant not getting into cars alone with him. "I um… have a stop to make, why don't we just meet there in a half an hour? Do you know where Pino's is?"

"I'm sure I can find it."

"Half an hour then?"

"Yeah." Riley replied before stepping into Vinnie's office.

Outside of Pino's half an hour later

"Yo." Ranger said answering his phone.

"Steph and Bradsaw just went into Pino's together." Tank said.

"Be there in 10. They don't leave."

"Got it."

"You sure your boyfriend won't mind us having lunch together?" Riley asked after we sat down in a booth. He's back against the wall so he could face the door. Ummm Ranger did that too.

"Excuse me?" I asked confused.

"Manoso."

"Ranger? He's not my boyfriend."

"Good. Guy like him is bad new."

"Funny. He said the same about you."

"Not surprising. But let me ask you this, do you know what side he bats for?"

"What do you mean?"

Riley reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge. An FBI badge. "I know which team I'm on. Do you know who Manoso's team is?"

I stared confused at the badge for a moment, but before I could ask him anything, his eyes snapped to the door and his hand flew to his gun, which sat on his hip. I turned to see what caused his reaction. Ranger looking about as pissed as I've ever seen him, stormed through Pino's front doors with Tank in tow.

"Manoso, what a pleasant surprise. We were just about to have lunch, care to join us?" Riley said with mock politeness. "And Tank, how good to see you again."

"Rot in hell Bradsaw." Tank spat.

"Stephanie, get up." Ranger said, his eyes never leaving Riley's.

"Ranger you can't just…" I didn't even finish my sentence before Tank bent over and picked me up. Riley got out of his seat.

"Don't move Bradsaw." Ranger growled, drawing his gun so quick that if I had blinked I would have missed it. Tank turned and walked toward the door. With my feet dangling a foot off the ground I started to kick and scream, but not one of the 8 cops that sat watching got up to help. No one messed with any of Rangers men. EVER.

Before we reached the door I heard Ranger's deadly voice. "Your lucky I didn't kill you 5 years ago. However you're not so lucky this time. It not a matter of if, it's when." With that Ranger turned and followed Tank and I out the door.

Tank seat belted me into the back seat, which wasn't an easy task considering I was kicking and scratching every part of flesh I could reach. "Stephanie stop it." Ranger said climbing into the truck. I continued to kick Tank.

"Stop!" Tank thundered. Ok I decided, if I valued my life I would stop. Ranger was intimidating, but Tank was down right scary.

"I told you to stay away from him." Ranger said once we were out on the road.

"Sorry if you're jealous of a little competition, but I can go out with other men if I choose to!"

"Jealous! What the hell is going through your head girl?" Tank asked turning around in his seat so he could look at me. "This has nothing to do with Rangers feelings for you. That fucker is as bad as they get. If you were smart you would listen to what Ranger is telling you."

"Maybe he isn't as bad as you guys think he is. He seems nice enough to me."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Tank said turning back around in his seat.

"Where are we going?" I asked when I realized we had passed my apartment.

"To set things straight." Ranger said.

"I want to go home."

"Tough." Tank growled.

Well I guess since I didn't have a say in things, I'd just sit back and shut up before I really pissed Tank off. A few minutes later we pulled into the under ground parking lot of Ranger office building. Tank got out and opened my door. "Get out."

Fat chance, who the hell did these guys think they were. "You know, you guys just can't do this. First you interrupt my lunch, now you refuse to take me home, who do…"

"Get out." Tank rumbled. He meant business.

"Yeah ok sure." I agreed.

Tank placed me between Ranger and himself. Then the two led me to an elevator. I'd been to Rangers office before so the code panels, voice scans and video cameras didn't surprise me. Although, why they were necessary? I had no clue. We got off the elevator and walked down a long hallway until we reached a large sitting area. "Sit." Ranger said. I did, as well as Tank. "I believe I told you to stay away from Bradsaw."

"You did." I said nodding.

"And you didn't."

"Nope."

"This isn't funny Stephanie. I don't think you realize how dangerous that man is."

"Ranger," I sighed. "Crazy people follow me around all the time. I'm sure if he is dangerous, he is mild considered to most of them. Besides, he never been anything but nice to me. I'm sorry of you don't like him, but I do."

"That's where you're wrong girl." Tank said. "That man was trained to kill, and he does. When ever it suits his purpose, he doesn't even think twice."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"He was our brother." Tank said.

"Brother? I don't understand."

"In the Rangers, the men you serve with don't become just your teammates, they become your brothers. They would give their life for you and you would give your for theirs. Trust, honor, loyalty. That's what's makes soldiers brothers."

" There is few things one can do to break that bond. The worst is betrayal. You never under any circumstances betray one of your brothers. However, Bradsaw saw a profit in betraying his team and it cost a good man his life."

"Betrayal is something I will never forgive." Ranger said looking right at me. "Remember that."

Chapter 3

"So Riley betrayed you some how?" I asked taking a stab in the dark.

"Yes."

"How?" Ok so I was curious.

"It doesn't matter, you don't need to know the details. All you need to know is that if he can betray his brothers, he sure as hell won't think twice about hurting you. So listen to me and stay away from him."

I didn't say anything for a moment. I thought about what Riley had said about which team Ranger was on. Riley _did _have an FBI badge, but then again I trusted Ranger with my life. Well at least I think I did. "Which team are you on?" I blurted out.

"What?" Ranger asked confused.

"Do you work with the good guys or the bad guys?"

"Stephanie.." Ranger started.

"No, just answer the question. Whose side are you on?"

"I don't have time for this." Ranger said shaking his head. "We will have to discuss this some other time. Let's go." Ranger said getting up and walking back toward the elevator.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me." Ranger looked over at Tank.

"This isn't the time Stephanie, let's go." Tank said towering over me. I wasn't moving. I'm not stupid and my instincts were telling me something was up.

"Ranger, how do I know if I can trust you if I don't even know whose side you are on. For all I know you could be a mercenary for some third world government. Or even a Cuban drug lord." Maybe the drug thing was a little over board. Ranger stopped walking and turned around. He had a weird look in his eyes that I couldn't quite place. Maybe it was hurt or longing, but it was gone so quick I couldn't be sure.

"Babe," He said kneeling in front of me. He paused a moment as if thinking. "Do you know how long I've wanted to take you in my arm and make you mine?" Ok that was a little off track, I thought. "I've watched Morelli screw up your life for the last two years and now that we have just started to give us a try you question your trust in me? If it will ease your mind I will tell you. I'm not working for some third world government and I'm not a drug lord. But my employer, I'm not at liberty to say. If that isn't enough to instill trust in you, then I'm glad we found out now before one of us got hurt." Ranger got up. That didn't answer any my question, now I was really confused. He's waited for me for two years?

"Steph, let's go." Tank said before following Ranger down the hall.

After we pulled into my apartment lot, Ranger turned around in his seat and looked at me. "Do I have your trust?"

I looked at the man who saved my life time and time again. The man who had taken two bullets for me. The man who admitted he'd waited two years to pursue a relationship with me and was by my side every time I called for help. If he deserved anything, it was my trust. "Yes."

"Thank you." He leaned over a placed a soft kiss on my lips. "Make sure you lock up when you get in." I nodded getting out of the Expedition.

"Babe," I turned back to look at him. "You have my trust. Don't betray it."

Chapter 4

I had just stepped out of the shower when I realized someone was in my apartment. I looked for something to defend myself, but other than a brush and some hair spray, the bathroom didn't have much to offer. So, with the hair spray in one hand and the brush in the other I looked out the bathroom door to see where the footsteps had come from. Someone was in my kitchen leaning inside the frig. I happen to glance at the assailant's butt and realized it didn't belong to Morelli or Ranger. Now I was scared. As soon as I got close enough, I whacked who ever it was over the head with the brush and as soon as they turned around I gave them a blast with the hair spray.

The assailant gave yell as the brush connected with his head, but a second later it was cut off as hair spray clogged his mouth and burned his eyes. "Fuck!" Riley yelled grabbing his eye's.

"Riley? Oh my god, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you! Are you ok?" I took a step closer.

"S-s-top, -on't –ouch m-me." Riley said holding his hand up. Jeeze you would think I kneed him in the balls or something.

A minute later we were sitting on my couch, Riley with his head tilted back and a wash cloth laying across his eyes.

"I am sorry." I said. "I didn't know it was you. What the hell were you doing breaking into my apartment anyway?"

"I came to make sure you were ok."

"Why?"

"Manoso isn't a man you want to spend time with. I wanted to make sure he didn't hurt you in any way.

"He would never hurt me."

"Are you sure about that?" Riley replied looking out from under the wash cloth.

Then it hit me. I was not just sitting here with the man Ranger told to stay away from? Yup, yes I was. But really with his eyelids stuck to his eyebrows and a lump on his head he didn't look that dangerous. "I'm sure. Now that you know I'm fine, I think you should leave."

"Look, I don't know what Manoso has said about me, but I want to set things straight." Riley said reaching into his back pocket and once again pulling out his FBI badge. "I am an under cover agent for the FBI. I'm in Trenton to gather information on Manoso's arms dealing. My partner has _mysteriously _disappeared and I believe either Ranger or his mob connection killed him off because he was getting to close. I really shouldn't be telling you this, but some how in the last couple weeks I started to develop a soft spot for you and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Wait wait, you want me to believe Ranger is running guns?" Riley cared about me?

"Yes. He has been for some time, in addition to cocaine and heroin." I just stared at him like he had grown a third head. "Come on Steph, I know you're not stupid. Where do you think he gets all of his cars and money. Or why people fear him. Put the pieces together."

Ranger did have seemingly unlimited source of cars, money and people did fear him. A light bulb went on inside my head. People feared Ranger like people feared the mob. "Ok, even if this is true, why are you telling me?"

"Because you can help me."

"Help you? How?"

"You can get into places I can't."

"Like?"

"Like his office building or his trucks or maybe even his house." I didn't say anything for a moment. "Steph, think of all the guns he makes available. Think of the kids that die every day from illegal guns in drive by shootings and over doses. You can help me stop that."

And in helping him, I'd be betraying Ranger. "How do I know you're not lying? I've known Ranger a hell of a lot longer then you. He has put his life on the line to save me, a dozen times. I don't know you for shit."

"I figured you'd say that. So I brought pictures and surveillance tapes." Riley said getting up and walking toward a box I didn't even know was sitting on the floor by my door. "Here." He said handing my some photo's, as he sat back down.

I looked at the picture. Ranger and Tank stood next to Vito Grizolli. Another man I'd never seen stood next to Vito. "That Dante Fentz. The largest arm's dealer in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most powerful mob leaders in existence." Riley said pointing to the man on Vito's right.

"This doesn't prove anything. I trust Ranger. He wouldn't do this." I said in denial.

"Ok how about this." Riley pulled out a tape recorder and pressed play.

Ranger voice came over the tape. "How many arms is he looking for?"

Another man with an accent similar to Rangers replied. "5,000 with ammo."

"How soon?" Ranger's voice asked.

"5 Days." The stranger's voice said.

"That ups the price." Ranger's voice informed the stranger.

"We want 40 million." Tank voice boomed on the tape.

"40 million?" A voice that I recognized as Vito's asked.

"In unmarked bills." Rangers voice again.

"It will be delivered to your office day after tomorrow." The stranger agreed.

Riley snapped off the tape. "Do you believe me now?"

Ranger dealing arms and working with the mob? This couldn't be right. I knew Ranger he would never do this. He had a moral code he lived by and this wasn't one of his morals.

"Stephanie. You who are you going to believe? I'm a Federal Agent, what did he tell you he was? He sure as hell isn't Mr. Stay-home-daddy. I'll bet he hasn't told you anything. He's afraid if he told you anything you'd ask to many questions and blow his cover." What Riley was saying was hitting to close to home. "Stephanie, listen to me, believe me. I've told you who I am. Now please help me. I can get you protection. Once Manoso finds out that you know who he really is, he's going to have to shut you up. No matter how much you think you matter to him, he isn't going to risked getting caught."

"Ranger would never hurt me." I said shaking my head.

"He isn't who you think he is. He's a killer. He'd kill you and not even think twice."

I remember Ranger telling me those same words. But, was he just trying to scare me? Scare me so I wouldn't find out the truth?

"Stephanie, please think about this. Has he ever offered you any information about himself? I'm sure he's probably tried to flatter you with gifts and money and cars, but in all reality to him you're probably only a good fuck. I'm sorry if I'm being blunt, but you have to believe me. The last women he got involved with was never seen or heard from again. I'm trying to prevent that with you. He's.." I held my hand up to stop him, I didn't want to hear anymore. "Look I talked to Joe Morelli already and we found a way to get you into protective custody."

"Joe knows about Ranger?" I asked shocked.

"He does now. Steph no one wants to see you get hurt, if you just help me, we can keep you safe."

"I need to talk to Joe. I trust him, if he knows about Ranger than he would tell me." I started looking around the room for my cell.

"Talk to Joe then. You may want to wait until the morning, last I saw he and that Gilman girl were about to get vertical."

"Joe and Terri Gilman are sleeping together?" First Ranger, now Joe, nothing seemed real.

"They have been for some time from what I can gather. I was here about a month ago meeting with my partner and he was running off from our meeting to be with her." Riley said.

"You are digging yourself a hole, now I really don't believe you. A month ago Joe and I were engaged."

"Steph, I've got proof of that too, I am the FBI." Riley dug through the box again, pulling out a manila folder, tossing across the couch toward me. I didn't want to look, but pictures of Joe and Terri slid out onto the couch. Everything in my world was a lie. The superhero I thought Ranger was, the man I thought Joe grew up to be…lies.

I thought about everything Riley had said. I realized pretty quickly almost everything he said was true. The security Ranger brought me and the friendship Joe and I's relationship was built on, started to fade away. Ranger had lured me in to trusting him just as Riley had said, with cars and money, but he hadn't ever offered me explanation to who he was. And Joe was turning out to be just like his father, a womanizer.

"Tell me what I have to do." All the while shocked that I had been totally wrong about both of them. I didn't turn my back on friends easily, but when my life was in danger your views change kind of quickly.

"Look around Rangers office, in his trucks, his house, anywhere he would keep notes."

"Ranger isn't sloppy. He wouldn't leave stuff lying around."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Riley replied shrugging.

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"A meeting place, a date, a combination to a lock, files, anything you think might be related to gun running, drugs or the mob."

"What do I do if I find anything?"

"Here," Riley said handing me a piece of paper. "Here is a contact number where you can get in touch with me. If you find anything or get into trouble call it. I will always answer it." I nodded. "Steph, you're doing the right thing."

"I guess." I whispered.

"One last thing, Manoso may try and convince you that I'm the bad guy or that I am lying. Don't listen, you've seen the photos and heard the tape. Remember what he is and he is doing. OK?"

"Yeah."

"OK," He said getting up. "Call me if you need help." I nodded, followed him to the door and locked up behind him.

"Boss."

"Yo."

"Bradsaw just left her apartment. He was talking on his cell phone."

"Did you have time to bug her apartment?"

"No. Just when I was going to go in Bradsaw arrived." Tank explained.

"So you didn't get their conversation?" Ranger asked.

"No."

"Fuck. This is getting to deep. I can't risk Steph's safety. No telling what he is planning to do to her."

"What do you want to do?"

"Bobby and I will be over in a minute. We're taking her to the island."

"She isn't going to like this."

"It's for her own good. Be there in Ten."

Chapter 5

"Anyone come in or out?" Ranger asked when he and Bobby arrived at Steph's apartment.

"No activity. She turned her lights off about 5 minutes ago." Tank informed Ranger as he started toward the building.

"What's the plan?" Tank asked as they climbed the stairs to Steph's apartment.

"I'm going to ask her nicely to come to the island with us." Ranger replied.

"If that doesn't work?"

"Bobby brought drugs."

"Thought it would be better than a stun gun." Bobby shrugged.

I was laying in bed and the next thing I knew, Ranger was standing in my bedroom doorway. "Ranger!" I squeaked surprised.

"Babe."

My conversation with Riley ran through my head, Ranger being a bad guy, him wanting to kill me if I found out the truth about him. Everything was so mixed up. I didn't know who to believe or what to do. I did know that I wasn't going to take any risks with my life, so if that meant I pissed Ranger and had to apologize later I would, but I wasn't going to die. I looked at the phone that sat on my nightstand. I would never have time to dial Riley's number before Ranger stopped me. I was dead. He must know I found out about him and the mob and now he was here to make sure I never told anyone what I knew (somewhere in the back of my mind, a sane though told me Ranger would never hurt me, but I wasn't thinking quite right and when that happens stupidity always follows). I was up, out of bed and running before I could think. Ranger lunged at me, but I managed to dodge him and scramble out my bedroom door and into the living room. That's when I realized the Merry Men had me surrounded. If Ranger was here just to talk to me, why would he bring Tank and Bobby? Something was definitely wrong.

"Babe. What's going on? Sit down so we can talk." Ranger said calmly walking toward me. I was trapped and pissed.

"Don't take another step Ranger!" I was scared, but at least my voice didn't quiver.

"Babe, I am not going to hurt you. I don't understand why you are acting like this." Ranger tried explaining.

"Oh sure! Is that what you told Riley's partner before you killed him? You did kill him right?" OK now I was hysterical. The more Ranger and his men cornered me, the more I began to believe they really were going to kill me. Riley was right. Or maybe I was just losing it?

"Girl, what are you talking about?" Tank asked confused. "We didn't kill anyone."

"Steph, I don't know what Bradsaw told you, we are here to help you, not hurt you. Can you calm down so we can talk?" Ranger said taking another step closer.

"Talk about what! How you're going to hide my body?" The water works had started at this point.

"Girl, you sound like a mad women. Settle down so we can set things straight." Tank tried.

"Bobby." Ranger whispered while Tank had Steph distracted. "Give me the patch." Bobby placed a small square looking sticker in Ranger's out stretched hand.

"Babe, what's got you so worked up? You trust me right?" I froze up. Trust, did I trust Ranger?

Not when I thought my life was on the line and he was barely a foot away from me. I bolted over the couch trying to reach my front door, I would have made it too if I hadn't trip on a blanket laying on the floor. I fell face first over the back on the couch and onto the floor. I scrambled up, but by this time Ranger had a hold of me around my middle. That didn't mean I wasn't going to fight. I kicked, elbowed and bit him with all I had. Still he didn't let go. One of his warm hands settled on the back of my neck. I tried to shake it off.

"Stop Babe, you're going to hurt yourself." A couple seconds later I started to feel my energy slowly drain from my body. I reached up to touch the back of my neck, but Ranger batted my hand away. "Don't touch it Steph. It's ok. I placed a patch containing a mild sedative on your neck to calm you down. You're fine." Ranger calmly soothed me.

"Raaangerr whaaa…." I could hear my speech starting to slur. Man I was tired.

Ranger pulled me closer as my legs buckled. "Shhh…I'm sorry Babe. It's for your own good."

"Ppppleeease dooon't hurttt meee." I mumbled, I couldn't fight the drugs anymore. Then, all of the manic thoughts left my head. Consciously, I may have thought Ranger would hurt me, but in his arms I felt safe. Deep down I knew he would protect me.

"Never Babe, I promise. Don't fight the drugs, I have you, nothing is going to happen. Trust me." I felt Ranger pick me up and place a tender kiss on my forehead before I passed out.

Chapter 6

I woke up to the sun shining in my face. It was a pleasant feeling until I came to the realization that the bed I was on, wasn't mine. Mine didn't have silk sheets. I shot bolt up right, which I quickly regretted when my head started to pound. I couldn't remember drinking last night, but it must have been one hell of a party cause I had quite possibly the worst hang over of my life. I scrambled out of bed when I remembered how I had gotten here. Ranger had drugged me then dragged me away to god knows where. Well, at least he didn't kill me. On the other hand, I thought, I should probably find a way out before he did.

"You ok?" I whipped my head around, jumping slightly. I hadn't realized anyone beside myself was in the room. "Babe?" Ranger asked when I didn't immediately reply.

"Am I OK?" I screeched. "Hell no I'm not OK!" I thought by this point Ranger was probably already planning how he was going to keep me from telling everyone what I had learned and I should keep my mouth shut, but I was pissed. "You drugged me!" I said scurrying around the bed to put some distance between him and myself. Ranger just nodded. "And! And, you kidnapped me! Kidnapping is a capital offense! That can get you 20 to life!"

"Babe."

"Don't you freaking 'babe' me Ranger! I want you to take me back to my apartment!"

"No can do. But if you sit down and stop yelling, I could get you some aspirin for your headache." I stopped my rampage and looked at him. How did he know I had a headache? "Side effect of the drugs." Damn his ESP.

Aspirin did sound nice, but getting out of here with my life sounded nicer. Wherever here was. "Where the hell are we?" I was back to yelling.

"Stephanie…"

"Where Ranger?" Going toe to toe with Ranger is never I good idea. I must be suicidal.

He hesitated a minute before answering. "Where on an island off the coast of Deal."

An island, how the hell am I going to get out of this mess? "You can't keep me here against my will Ranger. As soon as I see someone I have them get me help."

"Help?" Ranger gave me a humorous less laugh. I wasn't sure I liked the sound of it. "Babe, I own the island. Everyone here works for me. You're stuck."

At this point thoughts of panic started to cross my mind. My eyes started darting around the room for an escape route. They landed on Ranger's face for a moment. For I man I thought had intent to hurt me, his face didn't let on any signs of hostility. Then again Ranger never showed any emotion. In all reality however, his eyes held a slightly pained and saddened expression.

"Babe…" He said taking a step forward. Instinctively I back pedaled. I saw something change in his demeanor. At my apparent fear of him the caring tone in his eyes and voice was replaced with a cold harden look. "I'll get you an asprin." He turned to go, then stopped. "To save you some trouble, I'll tell you all of the doors are locked. Don't try and get out, it isn't possible." He told me coldly again turning toward the door. However, he stopped and turned once more. The comforting look back in his eyes. "Babe, I don't know what Bradsaw has told you, or what you believe. But you are here for your safety. No one here would ever lay a hand on you." He paused before saying, "You have my trust, remember that."

Chapter 7

As soon as the door closed I was at the window. Locked! I rushed across the room and tried the door, that too was locked. The next door I tried led to the bathroom, but that had no windows and led nowhere. I tried the next door, like it helped, it only led to a walk in closet. I truly was trapped. Ok NOW I was scared. And the more the panic built, the more I began to believe that Ranger isn't the person I believed him to be. I jumped when the door opened again.

"Just me." Bobby said calmly as he walked into the room. I back peddled slightly. When it came to my life, I was taking no chances. "I brought you that aspirin." He held up a glass to show me.

As much as I my head hurt, I wasn't taking anything offered to me. Especially since I knew Bobby was the team's medic and had access to a wide range of drugs. Drugs that could easy take someone out, permanently.

"Stephanie?" I started at the sound of his voice and realized that I'd backed myself into a corner. "Here, I'll just set them here, and you can take them if you'd like?" Bobby set the glass and pills on the table. "Look I know you don't know me very well, but I can't believe you would go off and listen to some nut cases bullshit. I've seen the way Ranger treats you and I have to believe that he has proved he cares about you time and time again" Still I didn't say anything, which is funny cause I always have something to say. "Fine." Throwing up his hands, Bobby turned and left.

I blew out a sigh of relief. I was so confused at this point, I didn't know who to trust or what was going on. But I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be curled up in bed, never having met Riley Bradsaw. I wanted to go back to when I didn't doubt or fear Ranger. Basically I didn't want to be caught up in this whole mess.

"Did she take the aspirin?" Ranger asked Bobby when he walked back down stairs.

"No. She didn't say two words that whole time I was in there. Just backed herself into a corner." Bobby said disgusted. "She's scared Ric, real scared. Whatever Bradsaw said to her, really hit home."

"Tank, what do you think?" Lester asked from the corner. Since Tank had a degree in Psychology, he was usually pretty good at pinning peoples thoughts.

"I think Bradsaw took advantage of her lack of personal knowledge about you and has her thinking that her life could possibly in danger. And because of this, any trust she may have had in you before is being doubted."

"Which is stupid because no one here would ever lay a hand on her." Bobby said.

"At this point we know that, but she doesn't."

"If she doesn't start thinking straight, I have good reason to think that she'll do anything possible to get out of here, at whatever cost." Tank said.

"That means someone is on her 24/7. She doesn't leave this island." Everyone nodded at Ranger command.

"Ric, Steph's fear is based off of you. I think it be smart if you gave her some space for a few days." Ranger looked hurt, but nodded.

"What exactly do you think Bradsaw is up to that he'd need her to get to us?" Lester asked.

"That's what we need to find out."

Later the next day

"Stephanie?" Lester asked walking into Steph's room. "Though you might want to dinner?" Lester looked at the lump laying under the covers. "You didn't eat anything yesterday and I figured you were hungry?"

Hell yeah I was hungry, but I didn't see them make the food. They could have put anything into to it. However at this point I am really started to doubt what Riley had told me. The past two days the guys had been nothing but nice to me. Bringing me food, books, they even brought a VCR and the movie Ghostbusters up to watch. The only thing that has me suspicious was, not once had Ranger came up to visit. He probably didn't have the guts to see me before he had to 'shut me up' as Riley put it.

"Stephanie, you need to eat something. You're going to make yourself sick." Still I didn't move. "Fine, I'll leave you alone, but when I come back you have better ate something."

I heard the door close behind Lester. I could smell the food from all the way over here, it was killing me! To top it all off, I hadn't really slept either. It would be too easy for someone to sneak into the room while I was sleeping. So for the last 24 hours I've laid in this dumb bed and stared at the wall. But I'm sure that sometime during my staring I drifted off.

Ranger quietly opened the door to Steph's room. He'd been watching her from the video surveillance room. Every room in the mansion was equipped with a video system. But it wasn't enough. He needed to touch see her, really see her. So when he saw that she'd finally fell asleep, he snuck into her room. Sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, he lightly brushed the hair from her face. Damn it! He knew his life style didn't lend to relationships, but for some ungodly reason, he had to try and break the rules for Steph. To try and make something work. Now she was caught in the cross fire. After this was over and Steph was safe, he was gone. Out of her life, so this wouldn't be a repeat performance.

The following morning

"She still hasn't ate anything." Lester said. "It's been almost two days."

"Ric, if she doesn't start eating she's going to make herself sick."

"Do you think I don't know that Bobby!" Ranger snapped.

"Look, I'll try to get her to eat some breakfast, but if she doesn't eat by lunch, either we take her back to Trenton ….."

"She stays here."

"Fine then is she doesn't eat by lunch, I'm putting an IV in so she can get some nutrients." Bobby said tiredly.

"Steph, it's Bobby." Great, I'm tired, hungry, scared and I have to put up with another day of the 'Merry Men'. "Steph, turn around and look at me." Not moving, I thought. "Stephanie!" Bobby thundered. Whoa! I'd think at this point I'd be dumb not to listen. "You need to stop this childish pouting shit and eat! You are killing Ranger. I used to think you had to be a very strong women for Ranger to have taken a likening to you, but now that I see how you really are, I can't believe he'd ever associate with you. No matter what you think, he does care for you and your stubbornness is ripping him apart. I realize you don't know any of us well, but if you care for Ric even just a little, please start cooperating." That got my attention.

"He's blaming himself that you got dragged into this mess. He brought you here to protect you and your wasting away making yourself sick, is making him crazy worrying about you. He'd never hurt you, and I know somewhere in that messed up head of yours you know that. Now please for Ric's sake eat something." I sat there stunned for a moment. "Fine, be a selfish brat. I'll be back and when I am I'm putting an IV in so you don't starve yourself to death!" Bobby stormed toward the door.

"Bobby." I whispered. He stopped but didn't turn. "Can I make my own sandwich?"

"What?" He asked incredulously, whirling around.

"I'd like to make my own sandwich."

"That's it! That's it, if you can make your own sandwich, you'll eat?" Bobby was in disbelief.

"Yes." Although he thought it might be some half cocked escape idea, he agreed.

"Fine, but don't try any funny stuff." I nodded. "Come on I'll show you to the kitchen." At least if I could make my own food they couldn't poison it.

I felt real shaky on the walk down to the kitchen, probably cause I didn't eat for two days! I figured that I could eat everything they had, then try to find a way out. I noticed when we passed a window that it was storming.

"A real bad storms blowing in." Bobby said, trying to make small talk. "Ranger and Tank are on their way back to the island, they had some business in Trenton. Hopefully they'll make it before the worst of it comes. They say that it's going to be the worst we've had in quite a few years." Great I thought, how the hell could I escape in this kind of weather. Then again, if I could get out of this damn house, I'd imagine it'd be hard to find someone in a storm like this.

After I ate my fill of 6 slices of left over pizza, two beers and a slice of chocolate cake, I was ready to find my way out. "Bobby, I need to use the bathroom, could you point me in the right direction?" Bobby looked at me suspiciously, but then nodded.

"There's one right across the hall." I looked across the hall and indeed there was a bathroom. How the hell could I slip away from there? Hopefully it has windows.

"Thanks." I got up and walked into the bathroom. As I shut the door I heard Rangers voice crackle over an intercom.

"Bobby, we just tied up at the dock. The storms pretty bad, we need you to send Lester down with a truck."

"He'll be down in the few." With my head poked out the door, I watch Bobby reach for a walkie-talkie that sat on the counter. I took his moment of distraction to escape. I slipped out the bathroom door and jogged down the hallway. I grabbed the first door I found and opened it. It led to a huge garage filled with tons of trucks, cars, four wheelers, dirt bikes, there was even a boat in there. I rushed to the door, but it wouldn't open. Just when I was about to head back for the door the led into the house, the big garage door opened and a truck pulled in. I ducked behind a car just as a sopping wet Ranger jumped out or the truck.

"What do you mean 'She got out'!" Ranger yelled at Lester.

"I don't know, Bobby just said that she had to go the bathroom and when he went to check on her, she was gone. It's only been a few minutes she couldn't have gotten far, the house is locked up so good, I doubt she even got out side yet."

"YET!" Ranger roared.

"Ric, calm down we'll find her." Tank said placing a comforting hand on Rangers back. Ranger just shrugged it off and stormed into the house.

With all the four of the guys in the house and the garage door still open, I wasted no time making my escape. I rushed out the door and staggered when I was hit with a wall cold rain and hard wind. Immediately I was soaked. Having no idea where I was going I ran down the drive and cut down a path that slanted toward what I would guess to be sea level. Without any shoes and barely any clothes, I stumbled and fell more than once. Within minutes I realized I was in trouble, not only was I lost, but I was bleeding in more than one place, was shivering so hard my teeth were knocking together and with the rain coming down this hard and the wind blowing I couldn't see anything and it was hard to breathe.

"She's not in the house!" Lester said sprinting down the steps.

"Are you sure?" Tank asked.

"Yes! I checked every ro…." Before Lester could finish the sentence the power went out.

"Shit!" Bobby cried. "Look if she isn't in the house we need to get out there and start looking for her, she couldn't have gotten far."

"With this weather I'd doubt we'd find our hand in front of our face!" Lester said. "I think this is probably the worst storm we've ever had."

"Lester." Ranger growled a warning.

"She's probably close by. She's never had to be out in this kind of weather so she probably hasn't found any shelter. Wherever she is, she'll most likely be visible."

"Tank you take the east side of the island, Lester the north, Bobby the south, I'll take the west side. Keep your radios on and if there is any signs of her call it in. I want her found in less than 10."

After I fell, twisting my ankle and busting my arm against what I guessed to be a rock, It was pretty obvious that there was no way I was getting off this island in this kind of weather. Hell the way I was going Ranger might not need to kill me, I might die trying not to be killed. I laughed at that thought. Actually, I wasn't sure why I was laughing. Vaguely I realized that I was probably going into shock or had hypothermia. So the only sane part in my head told me to find shelter, fast. I crawled around until I found a semi-large rock, rest against a tree. I crawled up against the rock and the tree, which helped to block some of the wind, but didn't do much for the rain. I was cold, wet, hurt and tired. It dawned on me that no one might find me and I could be stuck out in 40 degree freezing rain. I didn't want to die, so I did what any smart girl would do, I yelled for help. Though the rain was coming down so hard, even I could barely hear my voice. Still, I yelled for Ranger until my voice was hoarse and I couldn't feel my body any more. I cried for help until I passed out into the dark black oblivion.

Chapter 8

"Find anything?" Tank shouted over the thunder and rain as he approached Bobby.

"Nothing!" Bobby shouted back.

"The temperatures got to be close to freezing!" Tank yelled again.

"We need to find her." Bobby said nodding his head. "With this weather and the clothes she had on, I'd say she got less than an hour before hypothermia sets in."

"We've …..small ….mud slide….on….west side ….the island." Ranger's voice crackled over Bobby and Tanks Radio's. "The….roads….clo….to….ing…washed out."

"Copy. The east side of the islands clear." Tank radioed.

"Could…some…help here. I'm positioned ….the west dock."

"On the way." Bobby said, moving back toward the west islands docks.

I was vaguely aware of the lighting crashing around me. This is stuff that nightmares were made of. I stopped screaming awhile ago when I lost feeling in my hands and feet. Then, I think I passed out. But now other than being deathly afraid of the storm, I was feeling ok. Which is scary cause they say when hypothermia sets in the person actually feels warm. I didn't want to die, I really didn't. I think it was at that point I started to panic. I tried to push myself off the ground and move, but that didn't work, I just passed out again.

Lighting flashed allowing Bobby to catch a quick glimpse of Rangers form jogging along the mud slicked road. As Bobby got closer he saw a slightly panicked look on Rangers face. Ranger never panicked. It was at that exact moment, when the lighting cracked allowing Bobby to see Rangers face, did Bobby finally realize how much Steph really meant to him. "Ric!" Ranger turned at Bobby's shouting. Ranger met his eyes with an icy glare that let him know that when this is over, Bobby was going to get a long lecture about how to baby sit Steph.

"The roads washed out! I can't tell if she been down this way!"

"I'd say she was. If I was her I would head down hill looking for a dock off the island!"

"It's been over an hour!" Ranger shouted still scanning as much of the area as possible. He paused and squinted at a tree on the edge of the woods. Something was moving. Ranger took off as quickly as the slick road allowed. "Stephanie!" Bobby shot off after him.

Ranger slid to the ground next to huddle, drenched Steph. "Babe!" Ranger shouted scanning her over.

"Don't pick her up!" Bobby yelled as he reached the pair. "I need to make sure nothing is broken." Quickly Bobby ran his hands over the length of her body. "We need to get her back to the house Ric. She not even shivering anymore and she's a little tachy." Ranger nodded and slid Steph up into his arms. Placing a light kiss on her blue tinged lips.

.

Chapter 9

Vaguely I heard voices. I tried to summon enough energy to pull myself closer to them but no matter how hard it tried the voices stayed mumbles.

"Wrap her in the heated blanket while I grab the med. Kit." I felt my cold body being laid onto something soft and then I was enveloped in fiery hotness. I tried to shrink away for it, but I was too tired to move. "Ric, you have to let her go while I examine her." Bobby said returning. I felt hands move around my body, from my head to my legs. When the hands touched my ankle, white pain shot through my head and I no longer heard the voices.

"Well?" Ranger asked returning his hand to Stephanie's.

"Moderate case of hypothermia, sprained ankle and broken arm." Bobby said taking a step back from the bed. "We need to keep the blanket on her so her temp goes up, I'll cast her arm and bandage her ankle. If her temp doesn't go up by the time the storm blows through, we need to get her to a hospital."

*** 16 hours Later ***

First thing I become aware of was the throbbing in my head. Next the shooting pain in my leg and arm. I couldn't remember what had happened only that I was in trouble. I started to struggle, not sure what I was struggling for just knowing that I needed to get away. Suddenly something was holding me down, that made me panic more and struggle harder.

"Lester, she's having another panic attack go get Ranger." Tank bellowed. Within a minute Ranger crashed into the room. Going immediately to Steph's side he tried to sooth her.

"Babe, shhh Babe, you have to calm down." He ran his hands through her hair and down her arms. "Come on Steph, calm down, you're safe, shhhh." Slowly I began to realize the hands were no longer restricting and my panic began to ease. I knew that voice, it was Ranger's. And I trusted Ranger, he would never hurt me. Quietly I let myself be soothed back to sleep and my last conscious thought was that everything was going to be ok. "I want to know where Bradsaw is. We move as soon as we get a fix on him. I want him dead."

Chapter 10

I snuggled into the warm comforter as I slowly came aware of my surroundings. My head had a slight cobwebby feeling as if I was on drugs. At least this time I wasn't in pain. I turned my head slightly to the left when I heard someone's soft snores. Lester's big body lay cramped in an arm chair, his head lolling back and forth. I tried to remember where I was and how I got here, but my spacey brain didn't want to cooperate.

"Babe."

I jumped slightly and turned toward Rangers voice.

"How are you feeling?" I stared at him, noticing how tired he looked. "Are you hungry?" I'd never seen Ranger look this bad before. His clothes were rumpled and dirty; he had tiny stress lines around his eyes. I was so taken back by his appearance that it took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me. "…go get Bobby." He moved out of the room. I didn't want him to leave and I almost called out to him but something nagged at my drugged brain that I couldn't trust him anymore. A few seconds later he returned with Bobby in tow.

"Hey Steph. How are you feeling tonight?" He moved toward the bed cautiously. "Are you in any pain?" I shook my head no. He smiled. "Good, I gave you some pain medication through your IV about an hour ago so the pain should be manageable." For the first time I noticed the IV in the back of my hand as well as the other machines I was hooked up to. And the drugs explained my absent mindedness.

"You had us all worried for awhile. Do you remember what happened?" I vaguely remember being stuck out in a rain storm, then falling and hurting my ankle. I looked down toward my covered feet. "You sprained your ankle pretty bad. I'm still not sure if I'll need to cast it. You also broke your arm." I glanced down at my arm. I wiggled my fingers around the cast. "Now that you're awake, I would like to take some more vitals and unwrap your ankle to see if there is anything else I can do for it."

I shook my head no. This was the first time I woke up since this whole thing started, where I wasn't in pain or having a nightmare. I wanted to enjoy the floating no feeling sensation I was having. He could poke and prod me another time.

"Babe." Ranger said moving closer to the side of the bed. "It will only take Bobby and few minutes and after he'll bring you up some food."

It was going to take a hell of a lot more then food to allow my peace to be interrupted. I felt Ranger's hand slip into my good one. His thumb rubbing circles against my palm. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't for the life of me remember why I wasn't supposed to trust Ranger. He was being so gentle. I batted Bobby's hand away when he started pulling down my covers.

"Babe, look at me." I glanced back up at Ranger who started to talk trying to distract me. "My family has owned this island for 63 years now. My grandfather worked as a grounds keeper after escaping from Cuba. The owner who he himself fled Cuba was an oil tycoon. He took my grandfather under his wing and when he died, he left the island to him. You should see it Babe, it's beautiful. I've never seen a better sunrise then right here. We have horses on the island for when my daughter comes, she loves to ride. And in the summer…." Somehow Ranger's deep voice soothed me. I almost had drifted back to sleep when Bobby lifted my ankle up. I winced and tried to roll away. "Almost done Babe." I tightened my grip on Ranger's hand. Damn this hurt.

"Ok, done." Bobby said pulling the covers back over my leg. He gave me a smile then looked at Ranger. He didn't say anything but Ranger must have understood because he nodded before Bobby left.

"You should try and get some more sleep Babe." He started to get up but I wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Stay?" I croaked. I didn't care if I wasn't supposed to trust him or if he was lying to me. Right now my body hurt and I was sick. And Ranger made me feel safe and protected. I wanted to feel the strength of his arms wrapped around me. I wanted his calm voice to reassure me. I just wanted to be loved.

Chapter 11

The next time I woke up I was alone in the room. My head was pounding slightly, so I knew the drugs had begun the wear off, but at least I could think. I laid there staring at the ceiling as everything slowly tickled back; Riley, the tape, Ranger kidnapping me, me trying to run away. Surprisingly though, the panicking fear of needing to escape didn't come back. Ranger had enough opportunity to "shut me up" if he wanted to, but instead he was calm and comforting. He stayed and held my hand last night, talking about his daughter and Miami as if he didn't, he would never get the opportunity to talk about it to me again.

"Hey! How are you feeling this morning?" Lester said stepping into the room. "Ric just went to sleep about an hour ago, he told me to wake him up when you get up, but he hasn't slept much the last couple days, so if it's ok with you we'll let him sleep?" I nodded my head. "Let me go get Bobby."

I released a breath I hadn't realized I was holding when Lester left the room. I wasn't used to being around large men that threw people out windows. And although I trusted Ranger, I couldn't say that for his merry-man.

"How are you feeling today Steph?" Bobby asked walking into the room. I took a mental inventory of my body; head pounding, leg throbbing, I pretty much hurt all over. "You're not going to give us the silent treatment again, are you? You're a lot different than Ric described you." Bobby said shaking his head.

That got me talking. "What?" I croaked. Ranger talked about me?

"Yeah he said you never stop talking and you had a really bad Italian temper to go with your mouth."

That much was true. I was about to give some smart-alec reply when I realized he had baited me to get me to talk. I looked up and he was smiling.

"Let me check your vitals then we can go down and get you some food?"

"Pizza?" Bobby flashed me another one of his killer grins.

"Now that's the Steph Ric talks about." He was silent as he checked my temp and listened to my lungs and heart. "I could just bring the food up here, but I think it would be good for you to get up and move around."

I started to scooted toward the end of the bed. Then realized I probably couldn't walk on my ankle. Bobby leaned down and hauled me up into his arms.

"I'll get you some crutches later. I'm going to take you down stairs but, I've already had my ass beat for letting you get out of the house once, so I'd appreciate it if you would stay within eyesight."

Being in Bobby's arms wasn't nearly as good as Rangers but I wasn't complaining. "You're not going to force Ranger healthy junk on me, are you?"

"Are you kidding, I wouldn't force that crap on my worst enemy. As long as Ranger doesn't find out, I think we can break into Tank's doughnut stash." I was beginning to like these guys, maybe they weren't so bad?

After being deposited in a chair, two Boston Creams appeared in front of me. I saw Tank standing at the stove and I could smell bacon frying. I never thought I see any one of these guys inside a kitchen let alone cooking.

"Bombshell, after you've inhaled those, Tank made eggs and bacon if you want some." Lester said placing a cup of coffee in front of me.

"I think you should limit your food intake." Bobby said over Lester's shoulder, snatching one of the Boston Creams. "You're still running a low grade fever and I don't want you puking anything up."

I didn't want to puke anything up either, but I would like a piece of bacon. As if someone read my mind, three strips of bacon were placed next to my doughnut. I was defiantly starting to like these guys.

I quickly realized Lester and Bobby were the goof balls of the group, ganging up on Tank and rough housing. Tank was more like Ranger, calm and controlled. Once I polished off my doughnut and bacon, I found myself wedged between Lester and Bobby watching some action movie with Vin Diesel in it. I closed my eyes trying to ignore the throbbing in ankle and head. The next thing I knew I was sprawled across Bobby's lap with my foot propped up on Lester thigh. I was about to protest, but I had to admit having my foot elevated helped the throbbing. I fell asleep not even half way through the movie. Later, I vaguely remember being carried back upstairs and tucked into bed. Just by his presence I knew who it was.

"Ranger?" I mumbled. The only response I got was a curl being gently tucked behind my ear and a light kiss on my forehead.

Chapter 12

The next time I woke up, I felt worse than before. The pounding in my head had gone from manageable to unbearable, not to mention my ankle was on fire. And of course my stomach decided not to be left out of this party and started churning. I needed to make it to a bathroom before my stomach rebelled all over the bed. I weakly scrambled toward the end of the bed, swung my legs over the side, took one step on my bandaged ankle and collapsed. That was all the encouragement my stomach needed. I must have cried out when I fell because I heard voices coming down the hall.

"Babe?" Normally I would die of embarrassment if Ranger found me lying on his floor surrounded by throw up crying. But right now I felt so sick I was just happy someone was here in case I passed out. "Lester, go get Bobby." Great, in a few minutes all of the merry-men would be witness to my pathetic self. "Steph, are you going to be sick again?" I didn't dare open my mouth, but I did manage to nod my head. I clamped a hand around my mouth as Ranger gently picked me up, carried me toward the bathroom and set me in front of the toilet. I tried waiting for him to leave before I lost control of my stomach, but he just knelt down behind me and held my hair back. That was how Bobby found us.

"Ric what's going on?" He asked kneeling down beside us. Having both Ranger and Bobby witness me getting sick only made me cry harder, which then led to me throwing up again.

"Steph, you need to calm down, ok? " Easy for him to say. Thankfully, after throwing up once more I was reduced to dry heaves. Ranger gently pulled me away from the toilet and with his back braced against the bath rub, sat me in between his legs. Exhausted I leaned my head back to rest on his shoulder.

"Steph, can you tell me what's going on?" Bobby asked while checking my pulse.

"I don't know." I hiccupped threw my tears. "I just woke up feeling sick and when I tried to make it to the bathroom, I fell on my ankle."

"Do you hurt anywhere else beside your ankle and stomach?"

"My head and chest." Bobby nodded as he pulled out a stethoscope thermometer. He placed the thermometer in my ear. Both he and Ranger looked at the numbers; 103.4.

"Ok Steph here's what we're going to do; I'm going to put back in an IV so I can give you some pain medication and fluids. Then you can take a nice bath and clean up a little bit, ok?" I started crying harder, I hated needles. And right now I was sick and in pain I didn't want to be poked with anything else. I didn't care if I was being childish; I just wanted to be left alone.

"No." I wailed. "Just let me take a shower and I'll be fine."

"Steph, I really need to start an IV. You're dehydrated and your temp is really high." He reached for my arm. Somehow I found the energy to pull away.

"Please, no needles. Please, Bobby I swear give me a few minutes and I'll feel better." Bobby started to protest again but Ranger stopped him.

"How 'bout that bath Babe?" He rumbled behind me, gently rubbing my neck.

"Ric…."

"Bobby, could you start the bath for me?" Ranger said cutting him off with a look that told him to go with the flow. Bobby got up off the floor and started the tap. "Come on Babe, let get you out of these clothes, the warm water will make you feel better." I weakly raised my arms as Ranger pulled my shirt off.

"I'll be outside." Bobby said stepping out of the bathroom.

In matter of seconds, Ranger had both himself and I stripped. In one fluid motion he situated us in the tub so that my back was to his front. "Sshhh Babe, you fine." I hadn't even realized I was still crying until he spoke. He ran a cool washcloth over my face and gently washed my hair; the whole time speaking soothingly in Spanish to me. I barely had the presence of mind to feel cheated. Here I was naked with the best looking man in Trenton and I couldn't even enjoy it.

By the time Ranger lifted me out of the tub I was halfway asleep. I felt him quickly dry me with a towel and pull his t-shirt over my head. I watched with half lidded eyes as he pulled back on his boxers and dried himself off. I noticed as he carried me back to bed that someone had cleaned up my mess. I also saw Bobby waiting in the corner, but either the bath or Ranger presence had me to calm to care. That didn't mean I didn't protest when Bobby tried to put the IV in. I still hated needles. I was about to start crying again when Ranger leaned down and kissed me. And it wasn't a friendly flirty kiss, it was an I love want to spend the rest of my life with you kiss. When he pulled away I was left breathless and the IV was back in.

I was left to ponder the kiss while Ranger and Bobby talked. "It's possible from being out in the storm she caught pneumonia. But without a chest x-ray I can't be for sure. I gave her some antibiotics just in case and some morphine for the pain. We'll have to….." I drifted off to a semi-sleep thinking about Rangers kiss sometime during their talk.

I heard Bobby leave the room and then Ranger lightly gasp my hand. "You have to stop scarring me like this." He sighed. "I'm sorry I got you into this. This has nothing to do with you, but somehow you got caught in the middle. I'm so sorry Steph. Just get better and I promise no matter what happens I'll take care of the situation and keep you safe." He leaned down a brushed a kiss across my lips. "I love you Babe."

Chapter 13

Ranger loved me? That was the thought that had been on my mind since I woke up this morning. A few hours ago Bobby had situated myself and all of the "hardware" I was hooked up to on the couch downstairs. And now I switched my attention between observing the merry-men go about their daily business, watching soap operas and pondering Ranger's declaration of love.

I turning toward the kitchen opening after I heard a thud and watched as Bobby and Lester tumbled into the living room in a tangle swinging elbows and Kicking feet, each one scrapping for position. Oh god, dumb and dumber were at it again. I watched intently as they rolled across the floor, knocking into couches and tables and grunting insults.

"That's enough you two!" Tank bellowed walking into the room. Lester and Bobby separated.

"What's wrong big guy, can't hang with the big dogs?" Lester taunted.

"Yeah, afraid the younger guys would pin your ass?" Bobby said chiming in. Tank just laughed. And from the way I was looking at it, both Bobby and Lester were lucky all Tank did was laugh. The guy had a head in height on both of them and at least 50 more pounds to throw around.

"God you guys are like dumb and dumber." I said shaking my head.

"We prefer Rocky and Bullwinkle."

"Yeah, except I'm Rocky cause I'm the smart one." Bobby said agreeing.

"You are so not the smart one. You're the one with all the stupid ideas. That does not make you the smart one." Lester said protesting.

"Who's the medic around here?" Bobby asked thrusting his chin in the air.

"Just because you like the sight of blood, doesn't qualify you as smart."

I listened to Bobby's and Lester banter for a few more minutes, laughing when Lester added in his Bullwinkle accent. Finally the pair gave it a rest and flopped down on the couch next to me.

"Feeling better Bombshell?" Bobby asked while checking my IV.

"Yeah, much."

"You want to try eating again? See if you can keep anything down?" Suddenly I wanted the laughing joking Bobby back. I didn't like when he was all serious.

"Sure, some of that left over pizza I saw sounds great."

"I was thinking more along the lines of soup." I made a face, I hated soup!

After I was fed, the boys and I migrated back to the living room to watch TV. Again my movie pick lost and I was forced to watch another adrenaline packed man movie. But my mind was made up, I defiantly liked these guys.

"Les, where's Ranger?" I asked thinking about the kiss again. God I was pathetic! I'd already seen the man naked, heck I've already slept with him, and still a stupid little kiss had me going nuts!

"He had to go back to Trenton to check on a lead." Lester said not removing his eye's from the screen.

"Oh." I said disappointed.

"Don't worry Bombshell, he should be back tonight or early tomorrow. I don't think he's willing to leave you alone for very long." Great! What was that supposed to mean? Dang it, now I had two thoughts that wouldn't leave me alone.

Sometime after the movie ended Bobby and Tank hustled me back to my room and tucked me into bed. I hadn't had much problem sleeping lately and drifted off with no problem. It felt like I'd only been sleeping a few minutes when someone gently shook me awake.

"Babe." I vaguely heard someone whisper. "Babe, wake up." I groaned and tried to roll over. "Come on Steph, I promise getting up will be worth it." The voice whispered again.

"Ranger?" I blinked, waking up some.

"Yeah, come on I have something to show you." I held on as Ranger wrapped me in the sheet and gently picked me up. He carried me through the balcony doors and sat me in one the of wicker chairs facing the water. I started to protest being pulled out of bed and sat outside in the cold, but stopped when I saw the sun rise.

"Oh" I gasped. "It's beautiful!" The sun had just begun to rise over the water. Streaks of orange and yellow started to streak the midnight blue clouds and the first rays of light sparkled off the water like diamonds.

"I always thought the best sunrises were right here off this balcony." I looked over and studied Ranger's face. He looked more at peace right now then I'd had ever seen him before. I wondered how many sunrises he'd watched from this spot. Then suddenly I felt like I'd stumbled upon one of Ranger's secret places. One of the few places he let his guard down and just enjoyed life. I pushed myself out of my chair and hobbled over to Ranger's. He lifted me up and settled me in his lap. I don't know how long we sat there just quietly watching the sun slowly rise before one of us spoke.

"I wanted to share this with you." Ranger whispered, his breath rustling my hair.

"Thanks." I whispered back.

I was disappointed when the sun finally hung brightly over the water. I sighed when Ranger picked me up and walked back into the bedroom.

"It's still early Babe, go back to bed." I grabbed onto his arm when he straighten to leave. He looked tired; I wondered how much sleep he had gotten since he got back on the island.

"Stay?" I saw a rare look of indecision cross his eyes before he kicked off his boots and slid into bed next to me.

Chapter 14

"Ok Bombshell, lets try riding the bike today." I gave Bobby a dirty look as he boosted me onto the stationary bike. The last week, I had spent a few hours each day in the boys weight room working with Bobby trying to strengthen my ankle. Let me tell you, physical therapy is hell. After I finished riding the bike and balancing on one leg, Bobby stretched my ankle out then I hobbled up to the kitchen for dinner. Bobby's cell phone started ringing as we sat down at the table.

"Yo." He paused for a moment then glanced over at me. Curiosity got the best of me when he excused himself from the room to finish the call. I tried hobbling after him but Cal stopped me. I didn't really care for Cal and since he wasn't in the inner circle of the merry-men I felt I could get away with giving him more crap.

"Cal if that is Ranger on the phone tell him he needs to pick up my birth control prescription and oh, tell him to pick up tampons too, I'm almost out." I mentally smiled when Cal clamped his hands around his ears.

"We good a solid lead on Bradsaw's location. We're going to move on him tonight."

"Do you want Cal and I to come back to Trenton?" Bobby asked.

"Negative. We have enough back up here, stay with Steph. If we don't check in by 2100 hours lock down the island."

"Copy." Bobby confirmed before hanging up.

Bobby's phone rang again while we were watching TV. I knew it was probably Ranger again since he wasn't back on the island yet.

"Everything OK?" Bobby asked.

"We got some bad information. The building was empty."

"I'll start calling around."

"We'll try to make it back to the island tonight, if not, we'll be in sometime tomorrow." Ranger said hanging up the phone.

"What's going on Bobby? Was that Ranger?"

"No it was one of the guys, he was staking out a skips place." I knew Bobby was lying, but I also knew nothing I said would make him tell me what was going on, so I just dropped the subject.

I was a little worried that Ranger hadn't made it back to the island before I went to bed. Every morning for the last week he had gotten me up to watch the sun rise with him and no matter where he was he would make it back for our morning ritual.

Just as I knew he would, Ranger woke me up for the sun rise. Except this morning he looked more tired than most.

"Babe, I was thinking maybe today you would like to go for a ride?"

"A ride?" A ride on what?

Ranger chuckled. "Horseback riding Babe."

I didn't have much experience when it came to horses. I've lived in Jersey all my life and there aren't any horses in Trenton.

"It will be fun Steph, I promise."

I stared up at Ranger as he mounted the horse. Ranger riding in a tank, I believed, Ranger blowing up small countries I could imagine, but Ranger riding a horse was something I thought I'd never see.

"Come on Babe, you'll love it." Ranger held his hand out for me. I hesitantly grasped it. In one smooth motion I was seated in front of Ranger on the saddle.

For the next few hours I felt better than I had in a long while. I loved the feeling of the horse bouncing me and he strode across the ground, the wind whipping through my hair. I felt absolutely free, like nothing else mattered. Ranger had shown some of the old original buildings built back in the 1800's that were still standing and the beautiful view from the high ground toward the west side of the island. Ranger slowed the horse to a walk as we neared the stable.

"Enjoy yourself?"

"I loved it!" I sighed.

"I was six the first time a rode a horse here. It's been one of my favorite things to do since then." I would have never thought that. "I'm glad you had fun."

After dinner, I went in search for the boys. They weren't in the weight room so I decided to check the office. "Ranger?" I asked. When no one answered I pushed open the door. The room was filled with computers. An electronic screen covered one wall and various types of gadgets covered another. I wandered over toward one of the desks. A brief case sat at one corner. The lid was already open, so I figured I would take a look inside.

Money. The case was filled with hundred dollar bills. I couldn't even guess how much was in there. A couple million probably. I snapped the lid closed. My eyes started searching the desk. There was a document listing different types of firearms and mention about Uranium tubes. I'd seen enough movies to know Uranium was used to make nuclear bombs. I folded the piece of paper and put it into my back packet. I started to panic, this didn't mean anything. Maybe those guns were for a US military group? Ranger only didn't morally correct thing, right?

I darted out of the office before anyone caught me in there. Everything Riley had said came rushing back. Oh god, what if he was right? But could the same guy who watched sun rises with me and held me when I was sick, be capable of being a threat to national security?

"Steph, Bobby's looking for you." I jumped when I heard Lester's voice. "You ok?"

"Great!" I replied nervously. "I was just going to take a walk outside. Tell Bobby I'll be back in later." I scurried down the hall like a dog with its tail tucked behind it's legs.

Once outside I dragged in a deep breath of fresh air. I just needed to clear my head. Maybe that walk would do me some good. I walked down the road that led toward the docks. Some of the old buildings Ranger had shown me lined the road. Now because I was suspicious of everyone, I wondered what was inside those buildings. I headed toward the largest of the bunch and tried the door. Not surprisingly it was locked. But the large pained windows didn't look that hard to break. I looked around the porch for something that I could use to break the window. A broom leaned against the building at the far end. I picked it up and swung it like a baseball bat through the window.

"Ranger, a window on one of the storage building was just broken." Lester said looking at a monitor.

"Have Cal go check it out." Ranger mumbled not looking up from his computer. "Where's Steph?"

"She went out for a walk." Realization hit both men at the same time.

I crawled through the window once I cleared most of the glass away. There was enough light to see around the room. Crates filled with what looked like military issued rifles filled the room. That was all the proof I needed. Riley had been right and if I didn't get help soon, these weapons were going to be at the deposal of some very bad people.

I had just gotten back out onto the road when Tank spotted me. "Stephanie, what are doing out here?"

"I was just walking." At least that much was true.

"Why are you all dirty?"

"I was sitting down by the docks." I replied trying to cover up for myself.

"You better get up to the main house, it's getting dark." I nodded and scurried past Tank toward the house.

"How was your walk Babe?" I whirled around when I heard Rangers voice.

"F-fine." I kept my eyes fixed on a spot on the wall behind Ranger. "I would like to go home for a little while. I'm sure everyone is worried. My mom has probably called like 20 times telling me I need to come for dinner."

"I took care of your parents."

"Well, what about Rex? He needs…"

"Rex is fine, one of my guys is feeding him. What's this about Babe?"

"Nothing!" I said a little too quickly. "I just wanted to check in at home." Ranger studied me for a moment.

"I don't think that is such a good idea."

"Please, just for a day. I promise I'll come back without a hassle."

"Fine, one day. Bobby and Lester go with you."

"Thanks." I said breathless, at least I'd have time to warn Riley.

Chapter 15

The ride back into Trenton was silent. I sat in back with Bobby, while Lester drove and Cal sat shotgun. I thought having three merry-men with me was little much since the only thing they were protecting me from was Ranger, if that made any sense? I had to stop myself from tapping my foot against the door. I didn't want to seem overly anxious.

"Where to first?" Lester asked looking at me in the rearview mirror.

"Um… my apartment. Then dinner at my parents." Lester and Bobby groaned. They knew what dinner at my parents entailed.

My apartment had the cool abandonment feel to it when I walked in. Bobby and Lester accompanied me up and Cal stayed in the truck. The first thing I checked on was Rex. He was sticking rear end first out of his soup can, looking happy and healthy. The next was my answering machine.

"You have 23 messages." It told me. Great. I sat down and started listening to my messages.

"Stephanie, this is your mother…" Next.

"Girl where are you at? I haven't seen you white butt in the office since….." Gotta love Lula.

"Cupcake, we were supposed to meet at Pino's. If your home pick up. Fine." Click.

"Stephanie, if you don't answer your phone, I'm coming up!" Morelli again

"Stephanie, you've missed dinner two nights now! You better….."

"Steph, it's Riley." Now that got my attention, as well as Bobby and Lester's. "The girls said you haven't been in the office lately. I just wanted to make sure you were ok? If you get this call me back, you know the number."

"Bombshell, I think we should go." Bobby said moving toward me.

"Oh no! Ranger said I could stay and have dinner at my parents and I'm not leaving until I do!" Both looked pained.

"Fine, then. We better go if we want to make it by six."

"Just let me grab something from my bedroom."

"I got it Steph, what do you need?"

"You are so not going through my room. I'll get it."

"Already have, who do you think brought your clothes to the island?" I gasped at Lester who was smiling. How embarrassing! I stomped off toward my room.

Once I made sure they had stayed in the living room, I reaching into my nightstand and pulled out the piece of paper that had Riley's numbers written on it. I added that to my back pocket along with the paper I had stole from Ranger's office. My plan was to call Riley from my parent's house, he would know what to do from there.

Of course, my mother had to invite the boys in for dinner, which only made sneaking away to call Riley harder. At least Cal stayed out in the truck. I don't like him very much.

"You'd think you disowned this family the way you treat's us. You never have time for us anymore. Is it so hard to pick up the phone and call? Not one word from you in a week and a half." My mother clucked at me while setting the table.

I couldn't take this. "Mom, if you'll excuse me and I have to use the bathroom."

"Now you don't even want to sit down for dinner!" My mother called after me. The merry-men watched me go.

I snuck into my old bedroom, because I knew my mother kept a phone in there. I pulled out Riley's number and waited from him to answer.

"Bradsaw."

"Riley?"

"Steph, is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you?"

"My parent's house."

"Look things are starting to get really serious. I think you should have the police place you in protective custody."

"I'm OK Riley, but I wanted….."

"Look, two cops turned up dead two nights ago. The word out is they were informants for Ranger and when he had no more use for them, he made sure no one found out about their little 'partnership'." I started feeling a little panicky when I realized Ranger had been in Trenton two nights ago. Oh god, I had been wrong.

"I can't leave the house, Ranger's men are here with me."

"Can you climb out a window?"

"Maybe."

"OK, try and climb out, I'll meet you at the corner of Evergreen and Francis, two blocks from your parents house."

"OK, if I'm not there is 15 minutes that means I couldn't make it out. Oh, wait." I tried stopping him for hanging up.

"What?"

"I found something in Rangers office that might be of use."

"That's great. Good job Steph. I'll see you 15." Riley disconnected the call.

"Cal, she'll be climbing out a window. Grab her."

"Got it." Cal said hanging up on.

Chapter 16

I shrieked when someone grabbed me around the middle while I was dangling from the roof trying to find footing on the garbage cans.

"Shhh, it's me." Call whispered. Oh crap I was caught. I knew in a matter of 10 seconds Bobby and Lester where going to come flying out of the house.

"Cal, I was umm… just… I needed some fresh air."

"I know what you're doing Steph, Riley called me." What? "I'm working undercover with Riley."

"What are you talking about? You work for Ranger!" I was confused.

"I wouldn't work for that dirty bastard, if my life depended on it. Obviously he isn't smart enough to know who he's working with. I'm actually kind of disappointed about how easy it was to deceive him."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Look, Riley is waiting for you and the idiots will be out here soon looking for you. I'll cover your back until you find Riley. Go."

I took off running toward where I knew Riley was supposed to be. I had no idea what the hell was going on. Cal worked for Riley, he was lying to Ranger. Why was I listening to Cal, I didn't even like him! I spotted Riley's trucked parked under a tree.

"Ranger, we lost Steph." Lester spoke over the phone.

"What?" Lester could tell he was barely holding his rage in.

"She climbed out a window and took off, Cal was supposed to be watching the perimeter but she slipped by him."

"Steph does not slip by anyone. It was your job to watch her, I put YOU in command. If you do not find her, your ass is mine." Lester winced as he hung up the phone. "Things are getting thick, we need to find her."

"Let's head back to the Rangeman office for more transportation and split up from there." Bobby suggested.

"What have you got for me?" Riley asked once we had pulled out into traffic.

I pulled out the file I stole and handed it to him. He glanced at it quickly, and then focused his eyes back on the road. "What are these numbers on the back?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I went through files on his computer and found these numbers. I'm not sure whose they are."

"They look like his government contacts. This is great, now we can find out exactly who he is working for. Anything else? What can you tell about where you were staying?"

"I was on an island. I'm not sure which one exactly."

"How many men does he have on it at one time?"

"Well, at least, he always had two of his main guys in the house with me, but there were always people outside I'd never met walking around."

"Did you find any weapons?"

"Yeah there are some old buildings on the island. I only looked in one, but the whole thing was filled with crates of rifles and such."

"Did he ever give you something for security clearance, a pass code, a key, anything?"

"Yeah!" I gave him the remote I was given to open the garage. "And the pass code for the door from the garage into the house is 869092." Riley smiled.

"Nice job Steph. Real nice."

I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing. I had betrayed Rangers trust by telling Riley everything I knew. I knew for sure now that Ranger had a reason to kill me. I just gave someone security clearance into his 'fortress'. If I had learned one thing about Ranger while staying with him, it was that he never forgave a traitor.

"Ok look, here is what were going to do. I'm going to hand you back over to Ranger, see if you can collect anything else."

"What! IF he finds out I told you anything, he'll for sure kill me!"

"Everything will be fine Cal will be with you to make sure you're ok. When my men get ready to move on Manoso, Cal will remove you from the house and take you to a safe house, ok?" I nodded. "Ok, Cal's waiting for us, I'll drop you off with him."

Once inside Cal's truck he placed a call to Ranger. "Boss, I found her." He paused listening to Ranger. "Be there in 10."

"Where are we going?"

"Ranger and Tank just left the docks, were meeting everyone at the offices." Cal looked over at me. "Don't worry everything will work out." I shivered, Cal still gave me the creeps.

"What were you doing running away from Bobby and Lester?" Ranger asked storming into the office.

"I don't need babysitters."

"Part of our deal was they stayed with you. You promised me you would come back without a problem. Am I to believe I can't trust your word?" I dropped my eyes to the floor. I couldn't look him in the eye, no matter what he was involved in, I still had feelings for him and I knew what betraying his trust would do. "Where did you go Babe?"

"For a walk."

"Did you see anyone? Talk to anyone?" I paused then shook my head no. Ranger studied me for a moment then left the room.

"What's going between you two Steph?" Bobby asked.

"How the hell do I know?"

"Why are you so hard on him? The guy is using every possible resource to keep you safe and you're using every chance you get to throw it in his face. I don't get it."

"You don't have to get it Bobby."

"You need to chill out Steph. That man is under enough stress as it is, and yet he put aside all of his work to sit by your bedside for days while you were sick to make sure you were comfortable."

Finally I caved. "Bobby I don't know what the hell is going on."

"What do you mean?"

"Riley has been feeding me this crap about you guys working for the mob and dealing arms…" Once it started the whole story started to pour out, I couldn't stop it. It was nuts! These were the men that were supposed to kill me, except I trusted every one of them with my life. Suddenly I knew I had made a very big mistake. "…and he wanted me to gather information and give it to him, so I snooped around the island and then I found those crates of guns in one of the buildings and when I snuck out he asked about the island, about security code and men and stuff and I gave him a bunch of numbers I found. I think they were government related. Then I told him…"

"Told him what?" Ranger ground out. He was standing in the doorway, fists clenched at his side. "What did you tell him?" I could tell he was furious. "Tell me NOW." I jumped when he yelled, to stun to answer.

"I um…I told.."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it. You went behind my back, you lied to my face. You have put my teams lives AND my life in danger! If you were anyone else, you would not still be standing."

"Ranger I…"

"I told you to shut up! Don't speak again. I don't care how much you meant to me, you have betrayed my trust…..my team….my love. You are through." He turned to Bobby. "Lock her in the back room."

"Ranger, I'm sorry, I didn't know please…." He grabbed my chin tightly and looked me in the eye.

"I told you not to talk. You knew my trust was everything and YOU threw that away. You disgust me."

I started crying as Bobby pulled me away. When I stumbled he dragged me up. His hands were like steel bands, not the gentle touch I was used to. "Please Bobby, you have to understand."

"It would be wise if you shut your mouth, Stephanie. I'm not as controlled as Ric."

The room was dark when he pushed me into it. He didn't even turn on a light before he shut the door. "Please Bobby, please, I promise I won't doubt you guys again. PLEASE!" The door was silent on the other side.

Hours later Ranger watched Stephanie's hiccupped cries from a video screen in the command room. He knew this wasn't all Steph's doing. Riley had conned her into believing everything he said. He knew he should go in there and reassure her that everything was OK and that it wasn't her fault, that he still cared for her. But for the first time in 15 years he had placed his heart and trust completely in someone's hands and the first chance they got, they betrayed him. It was too much for him to stomach.

"Ric, I think we have a lead on Bradsaw." Ranger moved away from the monitor screen and focused his attention in Tank.

"Steph?" Cal whispered. "Steph, are you awake?"

"Cal?"

"Yeah come on, we have to get out of here. Manoso's planning on 'taking care of business'. Come on." Right now I didn't doubt Ranger had plans for me. I had never seen him so angry before. I knew whatever happened from here wasn't going to be good.

Cal managed to get us out of the office without being stopped. We started walking down the block, Cal checking to make sure we weren't being followed. I knew we couldn't have left the building undetected. Ranger had cameras and motion sensory in every room.

"What if they saw us?" I asked kind of breathless from trying to keep up with Cal's stride.

"They didn't."

"But what if…"

"Shut up!"

"What?" I asked confused.

"I said shut up Bitch." Ok something was defiantly wrong. I started to try pull away from Cal's grip and that's when everything went black.

Chapter 17

Everyone knows that eventually their time on earth will come to an end and they'll make that trip up to the bakery in the sky, but I sure thought my time here would be a heck of a lot longer. Yet here I am about to die and I know neither one of the hunky men that frequent my life is going to crash in and save me.

I knew Morelli wouldn't save me since he was still a little pissed that he spent two nights at St. Joseph's Hospital puking his guts up. It seems after someone caught him in bed with Terri Gillmen just days after I'd been in his bed, they poisoned his food. Hhmm, I wonder who?

But as sure as I was about Morelli not coming to the rescue, I was even more positive that Ranger wouldn't be saving me. I'd betrayed him, his trust, his team and his love. One thing Ranger won't forgive is betrayal, and that's just what I did.

So here I am, tied up to a chair in the middle of a warehouse with two guns pointed at my head and a bomb strapped to my chest. Yup, this is it for me.

"This is prefect!" Riley smiled. "You know I didn't plan for things to work out like this. My plan was just to kill Manoso and leave town, but oh, this is beyond my expectation."

"Why are you doing this?" I could tell that my voice wasn't very steady, but who's would in this type of situation?

"Why I'm going to kill Manoso? Or why I'm going to kill you?" Riley sneered. I can't believe I listen to Riley! Thinking about what I did to Ranger only made me feel sicker. Oh god, I can't even imagine how he feels right now. He trusted me, he told me he loved me and I threw it all into his face. And now the thought of dying and never being able to tell him I love him back, made my chest hurt. And I knew I was going to die. I was a traitor and Ranger wasn't going to save me. "Well lets see, I'm going to kill Ranger because he ruined a very good thing for me."

"Yeah, I heard that 'very good thing' cost a good man his life."

Riley laughed. "There are no good men."

"Rangers a good man." My head snapped back as Riley slapped me.

"The hell Manoso's a good man! He left me for dead! I was his 'brother' and he left me for dead. I wonder how much he cares for you. Has he ever told you about his family? How about his time in the army, all the people he killed?"

"You mine as well stop talking cause I'll never believe another thing you say. I love Ranger and nothing will change that!"

"You love him." I winced at Riley's laugher. "Did he ever tell about the last person he loved? How she cheated on him and then somehow ended up dead? Corner said it was suicide, but if you ask me, cold blooded murder."

"You're lying!"

"I don't give a fuck if you believe me or not, you asked and now you're going to hear the whole story. This 'hero' Ranger you've made up in your mind, isn't who Ranger is. He's a hoodlum drug addict from the wrong side of the tracks that will kill and screw over anyone to get what he wants. He has no loyalty to anyone and he sure as hell doesn't love you."

"Stop!" I wasn't going to let myself believe this. He said he loved me and I won't ever doubt him again.

"Shut your mouth, before I shut it for you." He stared at me, one of those crazy psycho stares I knew too well. "We were on a mission and things went bad. I took dome damage to the leg. Ranger decided to pull the team out and guess who got left behind, ME. They left me there alive and calling for help. They left me to be tortured and if I was lucky killed. Except they didn't kill me, they tortured me of course, but then they struck a deal. I go back do some dirty work for them, I got paid no one would ever know it was me. So I went back, got placed back onto Manoso's unit and when I got information I relied it back to me 'employers'. They paid me great. But soon Mr-high-and-mighty starting getting suspicious when our information was always one step behind. A new recruit was the first the figure it out, but I shot him point blank before he could leak my secret. I tried to make it look like the recruit was the snitch, but of course Ric wouldn't buy that his younger brother would be a traitor. And just like his dumb brother, he put the pieces together, the government found out, and I jumped to the top of the Enemy of the State List. There still looking for the 'snitch'. They think it's me, but I've set up Manoso to take the fall, and after I kill him, there will be no one to prove his innocence. He will die branded a traitor, a disgrace to this county. And of course I've had my fun while planning this all out. Messing with Manoso's family is one way to really piss him off. AND that is why I'm going to kill you. It was fun fucking around with you, you've hurt Ric almost as bad as I did when I killed his brother. You did the only thing Manoso will never forgive."

"He will forgive me. I'll tell him you set me up!"

"It's funny, I'll be the one to kill both of the only two women Ricardo loved." He laughed. "His wife was just as easy as to fool as you, except I'm not sure she was worth it. She was lousy in bed. After, she felt guilty and wanted to tell Ric. I couldn't let Manoso find out, so I killed her. And I'm going to kill you to. But this time Manoso is going to watch. Once you're dead I'll kill him."

"It won't work. You said yourself I did the one thing Ranger wouldn't forgive. He not coming to save me."

"He'll come."

"No, he won't."

"Well then, at least I'll get to kill you."

I'm not sure anyone can every really be ok with dying. I sure as hell wasn't, but it was a comforting thought knowing that I wouldn't be taking anyone out of this world with me. I had many regrets, the fact that never got to sleep with a New York Ranger, that I would never give my nagging mother grandchildren, that I never got to kick Terry Gilmans ass, but most of all though, that I hurt the one person that truly loved me unselfishly, Ranger.

So I'm sitting here trying to calculate all of this in my head, which would be the less painless way to go? Explosives strapped to my chest or bullet to my head? Hmm...I'm going to go with explosives, cause with the bullet there is room for operator error meaning it's not a clean shot and I got shot but live long enough to feel the pain. I'm thinking with the explosive it'll be quick.

"Got anything you'd like to say to your lover boy before he listens you burn to death?" Riley asked, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket. "Here let me be a gentlemen and get him on the phone for you." His henchman's gun never left my head. "Ricardo?" He said after a moment. "I have you girlfriend here. I don't want it ever to be said that I'm not a nice guy, so I figured I'd give you a few minutes to hear her begging for her life before I kill her." Riley clicked to phone to speaker.

"Come on now Bradshaw, you know me better than that. Do you really think I would allow myself to care for some burg momma's girl? And even if I did, after she betrayed me do you really think I would care what happened to her? You're doing me a favor by taking care this mess for me." Ranger laughed into the phone.

I know I told Riley Ranger wasn't going to come for me, but in the back of my head I thought that he would. That even though I betrayed him he would still care for me enough to attempt to save my life. That he may not love me but he at least cared if I lived or died. Now I knew I was sadly mistaken.

"Oh Ricardo, but I do know you better than that, and I've seen how you interact with Stephanie. You love her even more then you did Maria."

"You have severely misjudged her value to me. She was nothing more than a good fuck and some entertainment."

"Well then I guess you don't mind if I found out just how good of a fuck she is before I blow her brains out?"

"Feel free. If you're daring enough, she has quite the talented mouth. Enjoy." Ranger said disconnecting.

I sat in my chair in total disbelief. My mind replaying all of the moments I'd had with Ranger, the middle night wake up calls, the free cars, the sunset, horseback riding. I never had been a great judge of men, but apparently I had fallen in love with the world best con artist, and I took it all hook line and sinker.

"So I wonder, will you be a better fuck then Maria?" Riley ask painfully grabbing my breast. "You know I almost feel bad for you, I wasn't lying when I said Manoso was bad news. Everything he touches turns to shit. But then again, not my problem, and I sure do enjoy helping the shit pile up in his life."

I was numb. I could barley register what Riley was saying. Ranger was leaving me to be raped and murdered as if I was nothing more than a whore on Stark street. I loved him! I never meant to hurt him. I didn't want to die like this. I wanted to live, to get married, to give my crazy mother grandchildren! Oddly even as Riley cut the rope around the stomach and forced me to my knees I still felt nothing. I didn't feel the relief I know I should have when he cut the duck tape holding the explosives to my chest, or the panic as he forced me face down to the ground and use the knife to slit up my pants leg. I was going to be raped, and Ranger was allowing it to happen.

RPOV:

I couldn't breathe, I reached over a grabbed the garbage can and threw up everything I'd eaten in the last 12 hours. I knew Steph had heard everything I said, but I had to convince Riley she meant nothing to me, I couldn't let him know she was my world. If he did, it would only be worse for Steph, he would torture her knowing that he could get to me. Hopefully I had bought Steph enough time so we could get to her. We needed to get to her before anything happened. I would never be able to forgive myself if she was hurt.

"Get Morelli on the phone, and get the FBI up to speed." Ranger delegated to Tank. "Stephanie is our number one priority. NOTHING is to happen to her!" Ranger met the eyes of his men. "Nothing!"

"Ric I've got Morelli on the phone." Lester said handing Ranger the phone.

"Morelli." Ranger greeted.

"Manoso what the fuck are you thinking! I just got out of a meeting with the FBI liaison and I was informed that Stephanie has become your bait for Bradshaw? What the hell is going on? How can you endanger her life like this?"

"I didn't plan for this to happen."

"But you let it happen! I'm not stupid, you don't just let things like this happen!"

"My hands are tied here, the FBI is running the show." Ranger supplied.

"I swear to god Manoso if you let anything happen to her I will kill you myself. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Ranger replied hitting the end button.

"Boss, Steph's tracker shows them at a warehouse off of stark street. The FBI HRT is ready to move within the hour."

"We finish this tonight. Alpha team be ready in 10 minutes." Ranger said heading for the armory.


	2. Chapter 2

RPOV:

We took too long, I knew it. My stomach had that sick feeling in the pit that I always got when something was wrong with Steph. Images of Maria's dead body laying in a tub of red went through my head. I had failed again. Maria had been the mother of my child, but even she didn't compare to Steph. Stephanie one the one person in my world that I felt comfortable with, the one person I felt connected to, and for the first time in my life, I didn't think I had it in me to make it into that building.

I watched the FBI file into place, vaguely I heard Morelli arguing with Lester. I would never forgive myself if we didn't make it on time.

"Ric…..Ric?" My head snapped to toward Tank. "Breathe, we're going in." I nodded, Tank knew I was rattled; this was an occurrence that had only happened once before, the day I'd held my younger brother died in my arms.

SPOV:

My chest burned as Riley leaned down on top of me, forcing my face into the cement floor. My head throbbing from where he had pulled my head back with my hair. I was sure my other arm was now broken as well, and my stomach knotted in pain where I had been kicked. But nothing felt as bad as the pain that cut through me knowing that Ranger had allowed this, Ranger had allowed Riley to rape me.

"How was it Stephanie?" Riley laughed. "I've had better, but what could I expect from one of Ranger's fuck buddies? He never did have very high standards." I felt a rib crack as Riley applied more pressure. "Now here is the real test! Do I honestly believe you mean nothing to Ranger…..fuck no….you are his world. But he's made his bed, and now he can lie in it. It would be just too easy for me to kill you, plus what's the fun in that, it's been done before. So for now, you may live…. but remember this Stephanie…..it's not a matter of if I will kill you, it's a matter of when. I'll be around every time you leave the house, I'll be watching and waiting. And you better choose your friends carefully, let Ricardo's mistake be a lesson to you, the people closest to you are always the ones that end up hurt." My chest heaved as Riley finally stood up. "See you soon Stephanie." Was the last thing I heard before my world went black.

RPOV:

The warehouse was eerily quiet. We were too late. I went through the motions of clearing room after room, we had just gotten to a large loading area when I saw Steph. She was laying face down, unmoving, her torn clothes telling me everything I feared. I started for her only to hit a brick wall.

"Ricardo, wait. Let the FBI clear the explosives." I failed to notices the explosives that littered the ground around Steph, my only focus was getting to her.

"Let me fucking go Thomas, now." Tanks arms didn't budge. I could hear the FBI filing in behind us. I went ballistic. "I don't fucking care, LET ME GO!" Everyone could see Stephanie, she was laying exposed and vulnerable to the 50 guys sweeping the warehouse. She wasn't moving, I couldn't tell if she was even breathing. I had to get to her. "I give I shit if I go with her…LET…ME…GO." As soon as I felt Tank's arms drop, I was off. I stripped my jacket off and slide to the floor next to Steph, covering her as much as possible. My fingers immediately going for her pulse. "Bobby! She is breathing and has a pulse." The FBI was trying to clear the area, I met Bobby's eyes and just as I did he shot past the team trying to secure the area and came to Steph's side. I wasn't going to lose it here, later I would, now I needed to be strong for Steph.

"We need to secure C-spine and get her to the hospital. Looks like she took a blow to the head, her arm is in bad shape and I think she may have some internal injuries it looks like from a blow to the side." Bobby looked up at me….I knew the extent of the rest of her injuries, my stomach threatened to rebel.

"No one is moving her, until we clear the building." A team leader from the FBI informed us. "The EOD team is on the way in."

"Babe." My voice broke. "Steph, we are here. Just hang tight, we are going to get to some help."

SPOV:

I could hear voices, I tried to focus on them, to pull myself up from the darkness, but everything hurt. Then I heard him.

"Babe…..Steph we are here. Just hang tight, we are going to get you to some help." I blinked, trying to focus my eyes.

"Stephanie? Bombshell, it's Bobby. Open your eyes." I blinked again. "There you go Steph, stay awake." Everything hurt. Why did everything hurt? I couldn't remember…..

Note: I am sure this isn't what everyone was expecting, but I promise I have some good twist coming up! IF anyone is still interested in this story, let me know and I'll finish it. I know it's been a while.


	3. Chapter 3

SPOV:

"Babe….Steph, can you hear me." I tried focusing on what Ranger was asking me, but everything hurt so bad it was hard to focus. I grimaced, trying to take shallow breathes, black dots danced in vision threatening to pull me back under. "Damn it Bobby! She's in pain, can't you give her something until we can move her?"

"Ric you know that I can't. We need her to stay with us until we can get her boarded and on some O2."

"We are clear." Tank said coming up to Ranger and Bobby. "They are sending EMS in." Ranger nodded.

"Babe. Don't move….EOD just cleared the building, EMS is on their way in, we are going to get to the hospital, ok? Stephanie stay awake…..stay with me Babe." I tried, I really did, but soon there were hands on me and every movement hurt, I couldn't take the pain anymore, it was just easier to let go.

RPOV:

I watched as they boarded Steph and started an IV line. As much as the EMS tried to get Bobby to back off, he ran the show, barking orders, and even grabbing the radio from one of them to call ahead to St. Francis. There was little I could do.

"I swear to God Manoso if she has been hurt….." I could hear Morelli yelling before the stretcher reached the door. "Oh god…..WHAT THE FUCK!" Morelli hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't try to fight back, I knew I deserved every one of his punches. Tank pulled him off before he could do any real damage.

"You let this happen to her! If you think I am going to let you anywhere near her you're fucking crazy!" I could care less about Morelli. I didn't pay him any attention struggling with Tank. I was already making my way back toward Steph. She was being loading up into the ambulance.

"Ric I'm going to ride with Steph. Why don't you go with Tank and meet us there."

"I'm going with her."

"Ric…." Bobby tried.

"I said I am going." I hauled myself up next Steph. I couldn't let myself think about what she went through. I couldn't think about if I was going to be able to hold her again, or if she'd be ok, or how she would ever be able to look at me again.

At the hospital later that night…

"Ric…you need to get something to eat." Lester tried. I wasn't leaving. "I am going to run down to the cafeteria, what do you want me to bring back up for you?"

"Is the Plum family here?" A doctor asked stepping into the waiting room.

"We are." I said stepping up.

"You are….?"

"I am her employer, I have her power of attorney. Her family isn't here yet."

"Her employer?"

"Yes. I make her medical decisions." I ground out.

"I see, well in that case, we're finished with surgery. Ms. Plum had a small tear in her spleen as a result of the abdominal trauma. We've casted her left arm, she sustained two broken ribs, luckily it's just hairline fractures and no damages was done to the lungs, it will be very painful though. As for her head, she suffered a moderated concussion, but isn't expected to have any lasting damage. As for the sexual assault…." My stomach clenched and my vision started to tunnel. "…sir do you need to sit down."

"Ric, take a breath." I shook Tanks hand off.

"What about it?" I needed to know.

"Ms. Plum was raped…"

"I fucking know that! How bad is the damage?"

"Ric, calm down. Let him talk." Tank placed a reassuring hand back on my shoulder.

"There was some tearing, nothing that wasn't repairable. She will be sore as with everything else, but should heal fine. As with anyone in this situation, I would recommend she sees someone for counseling. She should be awake soon. If one of you would like to go in with her, she was moved to room 314." I heard Tank thank the doctor as I started off down the hall. I had just rounded to corner when I saw Morelli, getting off the elevator, Mr. and Mrs. Plum in tow.

"How could you let this happen to Stephanie! I thought you were her friend! And Joseph tells me you knew she was in danger and you didn't help her! How could you? She trusted you!" Mr. Plum pulled his wife back, her fists on my chest were nothing compared to how bad I hurt for Steph right now.

"You need to leave." Mr. Plum added, hugging his wife.

"I'll escort you out." Morelli took pleasure in that I am sure.

"I am her power of attorney. And am responsible for all of Stephanie medical care. I am not leaving."

"The hell you are!" Morelli shouted.

"When Steph was employed by Rangeman, I made sure that if anything were ever to happen that she would be taken care of."

"Well you sure did a hell of good job of that! Look where she ended up! In ICU, beaten and raped! And the asshole that did it is still out there and it's all on you this time! He wasn't one of Stephanie's crazy's…..this was all about revenge for you! How can you live with yourself?"

I knew everything Morelli had said was true. Every bit of this was my fault, and to make matters worse, Stephanie was going to think she meant so little to me that I not only allowed Riley to do this, but I encouraged it. My stomach tighten at that thought.

"Is there a problem here?" The doctor that just spoken with me ask.

"Hell yes there is! I am with the Trenton PD and this thug here isn't allowed anywhere near Ms. Plums room."

"He is in violation of the law?" The doctor asked.

"He's not under arrest YET if that is what you are asking." Morelli replied.

"Well then I am sorry sir, but as far as the legal records are concerned, Mr. Manoso is the only person listed as a power of attorney and next of kin for Ms. Plum. Any and all visitors must be approved by him until Ms. Plum is able to make decision on her own." The doctor explained, pulling out the legal document I require all my employers to sign. Of course I knew what it said. In this line of work, if anything were to happen, I want to be the person responsible for my teams medical care….and informing families if it comes to that. started to cry.

"You fucking bastard. You let us in the see her, or I will have you arrested."

"I am going to see Stephanie. No visitors are allowed until I've had a chance to speak with her." I turned away from the doctor. "Mr. and , I can't even explain how sorry I am that Stephanie got hurt. I will do everything in my power to ensure she gets the best care possible. But I am sorry right now I am not allowing anyone in to see her. You are welcome to go sit with my team in the waiting room until all this gets figured out. I am sorry." I ignored Morellis shouts and 's crying as best as I could as I made my way down the hall.

The walk to Steph's room was torturous. I didn't know what I should expect. I paused at the door before going in. The room was quiet with the exception of the machines beeping. My Babe looked so small. A purple bruise covered her temple, stopping just above her eyebrow. An oxygen mask covered her mouth and nose. Her chest rising steadily comforted me in some way, at least she was alive. I could only imagine the extent of what Stephanie suffered at Riley's hands. Maybe being alive wasn't the best thing for her. I noticed her IV had been moved now that both of her arms were casted. Her face was so pale. It had been a very long time since I'd cried, but I felt the wetness dripping down my chin…..

AN: THANK YOU everyone that Reviewed! I will post as quickly as I can!


	4. Chapter 4

RPOV:

"How is she?" Tank asked stepping into the room.

"Same." I replied.

"Bradshaw was spotted in the area. I am not getting a good feeling about this."

"He is just fucking with us, killing Steph was never his intention, he just used her to get to me."

"What do you intend on doing?"

"If I have any doubt about Steph's safety we're moving her to a safe house. She is my only priority. Bradshaw's time will come."

"Ric…..I hate to ask, but what is bombshell doesn't want your help?"

"It doesn't matter. I WILL keep her safe until this is over. After, she is free to do as she pleases." I felt Steph's hand tighten. "Babe?" I gave her a squeeze. "Stephanie….open your eyes for me." I watched Steph struggle to open her eyes. My chest heaved when finally her blue eyes blinked open. I could tell the effort it took as I watched her try to focus….a look of confusion crossing her face.

SPOV:

I could hear someone talking to me, but it seemed so far away. I felt disconnected from my body.

"Stephanie…." I felt someone squeeze my fingers. "….open your eyes for me." Damn if I wasn't trying.

"There you go Steph. You can do it." I blinked a couple times…the room was dim. I couldn't make out where I was. "Oh god Steph…" The voice caught. "…you're doing great Babe. I am here, everything is going to be ok." Everything was going to be ok? What was wrong to begin with? Why couldn't I remember?

"If you're tired, it's ok. You can rest. I promise you Stephanie, you're safe."

RANGER! I knew that voice….that was Ranger's voice….he was here with me. Why didn't I feel ok with that? He always made me feel ok…everything seemed so far away….why couldn't I remember?

"Babe it's ok….don't fight it. Just rest." Rest, ok that sounded good. I quit fighting and let my eyes close. I would figure everything out when I felt better, now I just wanted to sleep.

A few hours later…

RPOV:

I hadn't left Steph's side nor did I have any intention to. I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to be this close to her. Worry over my Babe's injuries had taken up most of my thoughts, but now that she was stable, my thoughts drifted toward how she would react to me when she woke up. I kept replying the last couple days in my head seeing if I couldn't have done anything differently. I could only imagine what Stephanie endured before I was able to get to her. I would have never said those things if I didn't think they would save her life…..I thought that I could get to her in time. Sometimes the worst injuries weren't physical ones.

I felt her hand tighten in mine. "Stephanie…..open your eyes for me. It's Ric Babe." I watched as she blinked and tried to focus on me. "That's it Babe." I could tell she was a little more with it this time; she glanced around the room taking in her surroundings. "Are you in any pain?" I dropped my head to out joined hands. "Oh god Stephanie, I am so sorry." I gave her fingers a kiss.

"Ranger." She whispered, her voice hoarse. I met her eyes. "Where are my parents and Morelli?"

Author's note: I apologize that it is super short….the next chapter is a nice long one! I hope that I didn't turn too many people off with the turn I took with the story…..I do promise some really good chapters coming up…and not to give anything away...but I always was one for a HEA ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note: THANK YOU for everyone who reviewed! And for those who have asked…..I am a diehard BABE fan and I defiantly believe in HEA! I promise is there much more to this story! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it

SPOV:

Everything was still so fuzzy. I knew now the funny smell was that horrible hospital antiseptic smell and that the beeping I heard were the monitors I was apparently hooked up to. I still wasn't sure why I was here, nor could I figure out why if I was in the hospital that my parents and Joe weren't here.

"Ranger….where are my parents and Morelli?" I watched Ranger's blank face slide into place.

"They are in the lobby."

"Can't they come in?" I coughed, my throat was really dry and painful.

"Let me get you some water."

"No!" I practically yelled, alarmed that he was leaving me alone and confused, I didn't need water that bad.

"Babe….I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be right back, promise." Ranger looked relieved somehow. I took a minute to asses the damage. My head throbbed and my chest ached. I noticed I now had two casted arms as opposed to the one I remembered. I pretty much felt like one big bruise.

"Here Babe, this should help." Ranger held a straw to my lips. I took a long draw and coughed, which made my chest feel like it was splitting open. "Take it easy. Breathe Babe." I took hesitant breath. "That's a girl….no rush." His finger brushed some hair from my forehead.

"Ranger, what happened?" I asked when I'd caught my breath.

"You don't remember?"

"No…..the last thing I remember was….." I paused, my eyes darting to Rangers. "The last thing I remember was Bobby locking me in the back." I looked down unable to meet Ranger's stare. "Oh god Ranger…..I can't tell you how sorry I am, I should have never doubted you. I don…."

"Stephanie stop. We can worry about all that later. Right now let just focus on you getting better." He squeezed m fingers. "I want you to know though, none of this is your fault."

"But I remember you were so mad. You said the one thing you could never forgive…" I started getting a panicky feeling when I thought about how mad Ranger had been, I was sure he would never forgive me, betraying his trust was the one thing he never forgave, he'd made that very clear.

"Babe….calm down." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Just slow down." He glanced up at one of the monitors. Bobby appeared in the doorway.

"Ric…everything ok?" He asked.

"We're ok. Steph just woke up, she's having some trouble remembering." Bobby walked around the other side of the bed.

"How are you feeling there Bombshell?" Bobby asked, checking my IV line and silencing the beeping monitor that I didn't realize until now was going crazy.

"My chest hurts. And everything is so fuzzy. Why can't I remember?" Bobby ignored my question.

"Steph on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being no pain and 10 being the worse you've ever experienced, where is your pain now?" He pulled a stethoscope down from where it hung on my IV pole.

"Right now a solid 8. It hurts every time I take a breath." Bobby nodded as he placed the stethoscope on my chest. Bobby glanced up meeting Ranger's eyes after a moment.

"Bombshell, I am going to go talk with the doctors about getting you some pain meds. That should help you breathe easier and get some rest."

"Bobby, why can't I remember." Bobby quickly glanced at Ranger.

"Steph you suffered a moderate concussion. Retrograde amnesia is common when the blow to the head is hard enough that loss of consciousness occurs. Usually with rest everything comes back."

"I don't remember getting hit in the head." I huffed, it was getting harder to breathe. "The last thing I remember was you locking me in the back room." I took another labored breath. "How did I get hurt?" The door opened.

"Is everything ok in here?" A middle aged man in green scrubs asked.

"Dr. Johnson, I was just about to call you." Bobby said. "Ms. Plum has been up about 10 minutes now. She says she is having 8/10 chest pain with difficulty breathing. Respirations are shallow, 28 breathes per minute." The doctor nodded, looking over the chart.

"Ms. Plum, it looks like you are in very good hands here." He smiled politely at me. "I am going to get you some pain meds and then I'll do a quick assessment." He turned to leave, and Bobby got up to follow him out. I could hear them speaking quietly as they walked away from the room. I closed my eyes and focused on getting a decent breath of air.

"Why is it so hard to breathe?"

"You have some fractured ribs. None were displaced, but it will be difficult and painful for a while."

"What else is wrong?" Although from the various places that hurt I had a good idea.

"You had some internal bleeding they were able to fix in surgery. You arm was broken along with your ribs and of course the head injury." I heard him take a deep breath as if to say something else, but he remained quiet.

"Are you ever going to answer my question about what happened?" I was met with silence. Before I could ask him again, Bobby and the doctor came back in.

"Ms. Plum I have some pain meds for you. They may make you kind of drowsy but that is ok, you need to get as much rest as possible." He messed with my IV lines before injecting the medication into the port. Almost immediately I started to feel woozy. "I am going to listen to your lungs." I vaguely heard the doctor say.

"Ranger…will…you…stay?" I slurred.

"Of course Babe." He placed his hand in my casted one. I felt myself start to drift off. I promised myself I would figure out what happened when I woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

RPOV:

I watched Steph struggle with the medication.

"Ranger…will…you…stay?" Her head sluggishly rolling over to look at me.

"Of course Babe." I placed my hands in her fingers to let her know I was here. The doctor had finished up examining her and was speaking quietly with Bobby in the corner.

"You…..won't leave…..right?"

"Steph, quit fighting the meds and rest. I'll be here when you wake up." I leaned down and kissed her fingers.

"Promise?" She whispered.

"Promise." I watched her eyes flutter closed. God I love her. Bobby came up to the bedside.

"She out?"

"Think so." I replied pulling her blankets up and tucking them in. "What did the doctor have to say?"

"I wanted to talk with him about Steph's lungs. With her being out in that storm and getting sick, then not even a week later having surgery, I was worried about her getting pneumonia. Just having surgery alone places patients at risk…and with her broken ribs, that is the last thing Steph needs."

"What did he have to say?"

"He is as worried as I am. We're going to monitor it, administer antibiotics prophylacticly if needed."

"Ranger?" I leaned down to hear better.

"Yeah Babe?"

"I…I'm sorry….I…"

"Stephanie, stop. You need to get some rest. We can talk when you are feeling better." I tried to soothe her. I ran my head through her hair.

"Ranger….I'm scared." I blew out a sigh.

"What are you scared of Babe?" She didn't reply right away, I thought she'd fallen back a sleep, when she opened her eyes and met my stare.

"I don't know." She whispered. "I can't remember but I feel like something bad is going to happen."

"Steph I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you. Ever."

"I know you wouldn't….I….trust…you. You've….. always…. saved me." My stomach clenched, I thought I might be sick. Her eyes drifted closed. I bent my forehead to hers and prayed to a god I had long since stop believing in that she would somehow find a way to forgive me.

"Ric…you can't beat yourself up. You did everything you could to save her. The fed's were running the show."

"That's no excuse! I've never let them run my ops before! I was so consumed with finally getting my hands on Bradshaw that I neglected to keep Stephanie safe!"

"She's alive and she is going to recover."

"At what expense? She may never be able to work through a brutal experience like that!" I felt like demolishing everything in sight when I thought of what Stephanie went through. How helpless and betrayed she must have felt as he forced her to the ground. I took a deep breath. "Any update on Bradshaw's where abouts?"

"We think he is still in the area."

"How soon before Stephanie can be moved?"

"A day at the minimum, 2-3 days to be safe."

"Can you provide the care she needs, or do I need to call Blake?"

"Depends on how she does with the move, if an infection sets in. Where are you planning on taking her?" Bobby asked.

"Home."

SPOV:

I slowly started working my way out of what felt like a 3 day sleep. My body still ached and my head was still kind of foggy, but things were defiantly clearer than before. I searched the room and found Ranger passed out in a chair, his head cocked at an odd angle, his hand still in mine. He looked so tired. I wondered how long I had been here. I tried to remember how I even got here. I remember having dinner at my parents and sneaking out the window….I met with Riley and after when I got back to Ranger's building, I told Bobby what happened. Ranger was so mad, I've never seen him that irate. I didn't think he would ever forgive me….he was so mad that, something was right there….something important, Ranger was so mad, so mad…that he allowed Riley to rape me. Everything hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh god….I remember now. I remember Riley calling Ranger…..he told Riley I had a talented mouth….he LET him rape me. I thought about how the pain of Riley forcing himself into me felt like nothing compared to how bad it hurt knowing that Ranger was allowing this. I LOVED him! I trusted him to keep me safe!

"Babe?" Ranger glanced up from the chair…..his eyes scanning the monitors above my bed. "Stephanie are you ok?" I couldn't answer, there wasn't enough air in the room to get even a decent breath let alone speak. I could hear myself wheezing trying to breathe. "Bobby!" Ranger shot a panicked look toward the door. "Steph calm down. Are you in pain? Tell me what's going on Babe." I couldn't even look at him.

"Joe? Where…..is..Joe? I…..need….to….see…him." I watched Ranger back off some.

"Ric? What's going on?" Bobby asked coming into the room. "Bombshell…calm down….what's going on?"

"Joe? Where…..is… he?" I wheezed.

"Morelli?" Bobby asked confused. "He is in the lobby…..Stephanie you have to calm down….the doctors will be coming shortly I am sure. Tell me what's going on."

"Get Joe…..I…need….to…see…Joe." I had to see him, I couldn't be around Ranger and his fucking merryman any longer. How could they stand here and pretend everything was ok after they let Bradshaw rape and beat me?

"Ms. Plum?" A doctor asked stepping into the room, immediately coming over to me. "Ms. Plum you need to calm down. Are you experiencing pain?"

"I need….to….see..Joseph Morelli…now." I labored to tell the doctor.

"Ms. Plum, you need to calm down first before we can have any visitors come in."

"Now….please….please." I pulled my hand from Rangers. The doctor nodded, quickly leaving the room.

"How….can…you…sit here…after…what you…allowed…to happen?" I struggled to get the words out past the pain in my chest and tears.

"Babe…" Ranger tried.

"Stephanie?" Morelli came through the door. He reached my bedside in 2 steps, glancing up at the monitors. "Stephanie you need to slow down. The doctors are really worried about your ribs and sutures. Calm down Cupcake."

"Make…..him…..leave! I…don't want….to see…him. Please….Joe…make him…go." Morelli turned toward Ranger.

"You heard her Manoso. Get the fuck out….and take your hunch men with you."


	7. Chapter 7

SPOV:

It had been a couple hours since Joe forced Ranger to leave. I knew one of the guys was still outside the room because every time Joe left I could hear them exchanging words; I couldn't make out which of the guys it was. The doctor tried to administer some more pain medication, but I couldn't take the foggy drugged haze they put me in. I had to stay alert. Everything from the past week was playing over in my head, and I remembered Riley's warning, he would be back. I wasn't ready to think about what had happened at the warehouse so I pushed those images from my head. But the pain was a constant reminder that I was damaged goods. Damaged goods, because I had believed in a made up super hero. I remember every single word of that phone conversation Riley had with Ranger. I laughed humorlessly to myself, I was so worried when I woke up that Ranger would never forgive me, that I had ruined everything…so worried that I would never get the chance to tell him that I loved him. When in all reality it was all a lie, a façade. I was nothing more to him than entertainment and a good lay. He not only allowed me to be….I couldn't even think the word…..he not only allowed "it" to happen, he encouraged it!

"Cupcake? Are you ok?" Joe asked sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Did you know?" I asked.

"Know what Steph?"

"Did you know that Ranger was running guns and selling drugs?" I needed answers.

"Stephanie, you shouldn't be worrying about stuff like this right now. Let's focus on getting better."

"Joe did you know?" He blew out a sigh.

"Cupcake there is a lot I know that I can't say. I wish I could, but I can't, it's part of the job."

"I need answers." I looked pleadingly at him.

"I can't talk about it. I do know this, as much as you thought something was going on and that Manoso cared for you in some way, you were wrong. He doesn't care for anyone but himself." Joe sighed, placing his hand in mine. "I love you Stephanie, I hope you can see that now, I would have never let something like this happen. As soon as I found out that he was allowing the FBI to use you to lure Bradshaw out, I tried to get you out, but my hands were tied and Manoso assured me that he would keep you safe."

"He was working with the FBI?"

"Bradshaw has been on the terror list for quite some time now. Somehow he has been able to slip in and out of the country undetected; recently he's been a ghost, no one had seen or heard from him in a couple years. So when he showed up here and was seen with you, the FBI was all over it."

None of this was an accident. It was hard enough stomaching the fact the person I had come to love wasn't the person I knew at all, but to find out that I had been nothing but a pawn was absolutely devastating.

"Where is Ranger?"

"Not a fucking clue. His loyal following hasn't left though. Tank won't leave the door and Brown hasn't left the nurses desk."

"You won't let them in right? Especially not him."

"No Cupcake, I won't let him in."

"I want to go home."

"The doctors want to monitor you some more. As soon as you are able to leave I'll get you out of here. I think it's best if you came and stayed with me." He paused. "Steph, there is something you need to know. Bradshaw is still out there and the FBI seems to think he hasn't left the area yet. If it comes down to it, the FBI will place you in a safe house until all this is finished."

"You said he's been on the loose for years….I can't hide forever."

"Let's not barrow trouble, I said they _thought _he was still in the area, they aren't sure, it's just speculation." Both of us were quiet for a bit. "Stephanie have you thought about quitting all of this? Settling down some?"

"Joe, I can't have this conversation right now."

"Cupcake…you got lucky this…."

"I got lucky? I got lucky? Really? You considered being kidnapped and beaten and…" I still couldn't bring myself to say it. I pulled my hand away from his. Just the thought of being touched made me feel panicky.

"Stephanie, I didn't mean it that way. I know this wasn't your fault, but this is a dangerous field…" I curled my fingers around my cast when he tried to hold my hand again.

"Joe stop, just stop. I just want to be left alone." I turned my head toward the wall.

"Ok Cupcake, but you need to start thinking about your future. This isn't any way to live."

I heard a cell phone ring just outside my door and Tank's deep voice. After a moment there was a knock on the door.

"Morelli, I need to speak with you." Tank said without entering.

"Not interested in anything you or your fucking boss has to say."

"Then I suggest you call the station." I wondered what could be going on that Tank would tell Joe to call work. Had something else happened? Maybe they had caught Riley? Then I remembered what he had said….I should learn from Ranger's mistakes and choose my friends carefully….the ones closest to you were always the ones to get hurt.

"Joe where are my parents?" I asked starting to get panicked.

"They are at home, they called about an hour ago."

"Call the station, something must have happened."

"Cupcake, if something happened someone would have called….." Joe's phone rang. He picked it up. "Morelli." He answered. He listened intently to whoever was calling. I knew something had happened when he glanced up at me. "And they are sure it wasn't accidental?" He was quiet again. "Anything salvageable?" He got out of his chair and started for the door.

"Joe wait!" He held up his finger as if to say that he'd be right back, and step outside. I heard him say, "Are the fed's going to send some security over…." Before the door clicked shut.

"Tank!" If Joe wasn't going to answer my questions, I would get someone else to. Tank opened the door without saying anything. "What's going on?" He looked at me as if debating if he should say anything. "I have a right to know. I've been kept in the dark long enough." He nodded.

"Your apartment building burned down about an hour ago."

"And they don't think it was an accident?"

"Defiantly not accidental, looks like it started in your apartment." Immediately I thought of Rex.

"Rex?" Tank just shook his head.

"Get the fuck out." Morelli told Tank coming back into the room.

"Joe what's going on? Is everyone ok?"

"You just had to go and worry her didn't you? Get out." Joe ground out.

"Stephanie, Bradshaw is still in the area. Ric doesn't think the Fed's have your best interest in mind, if you would let him…." Joe gave Tank a shove, going chest to chest with him.

"What the fuck did you not understand about GET THE FUCK OUT?"

"Back off Morelli. You know as well as I do that they are planning to use Stephanie as bait again."

My head started to pound and my chest felt tight. I couldn't do it again. I had tried keeping the images of what happened from my mind, but thoughts of Riley coming back brought them all rushing to the surface. I remember how his hands felt on my skin, the shame and embarrassment of being exposed and of course the horrible pain. Just the thought of anyone touching me again after that made me want to vomit.

"Dumb asshole, there is no reason to get Stephanie all worked up. The fed's are sending people over to stay with her until she can be released and placed in a safe house. Unlike fucking Manoso, I'm going to make sure nothing happens to her." Joe came over the bed and reached down to hold my hand.

"Don't touch me!" I gasped trying to catch my breath.

"Cupcake?" He asked confused. It wasn't Joe, I just couldn't stand to have anyone touching me right now. Bobby joined Tank in the doorway.

"Bombshell, I know that you don't want us in here, but the doctors are on their way in, so unless you want a room full of people, you need to chill out." The thought of people coming into my room, especially nurses and doctors who would want to poke and prod me, made it harder to calm down. With images of Riley's attack fresh in my mind I couldn't rationalize that no one here would harm me. I just had to get out. I sat up trying to swing my legs over the side of the bed. My ribs screamed in protest.

"Stephanie you can't get out of bed." Joe placed his hands on my shoulders trying to get me to lie back down, I flipped at the contact. Everything after that was a blur. People flooded my room, I vaguely remember pulling out my IV when the doctors tried to administer medication through it. I knew my behavior must have seemed crazy to them, but I couldn't stay here anymore. I couldn't stand to be touched, or lied to and I couldn't sit here and wait for Riley to come back. Especially not that.


	8. Chapter 8

RPOV:

"Yeah?" I was on my way back to the hospital when Bobby called.

"They've got it under control now, but Steph had an incident."

"Explain." My heart started to pound.

"She freaked out when she found out about her apartment and they had to sedate her."

"Is she ok?"

"She pulled out her IV, but her sutures and surgical site were fine. They aren't allowing any visitors right now. Morelli is raising hell."

"I'll be there in 10. The Fed's are trying to have her moved to a secure location."

"What's the plan?"

"I've already let them fuck that up once, she is coming with us."

"Ric, you should know, this may not be the best thing for Steph. She didn't respond well to us taking her to the island the first time, and this time she is even more hesitant to be around any of us."

"I've called Blake." It had been years since I've needed to call him in on something, but like all of the men that served under me and later worked for me, they were always there when they were needed, part of being in our brotherhood. Blake was not only a doctor, he was also the person we turned to when we needed help dealing with the stress of the job. After getting out, Blake had gone onto get a PhD in psychology.

"That's good. Bombshells care may be out of my league."

"Don't let her out of your sight until I get there." I prayed once I had a chance to talk to Steph and explain that I never once meant any of those things she heard, that she would begin to trust me again. I also realized Bobby may be right and taking Steph against her will may not be in her best interest, but I would risk that over Bradshaw getting within a mile of her again. And when this was over and she was safe, if she really didn't want me in her life, I would disappear, because the last thing I wanted to do right now was cause her any more pain.

SPOV:

"Ms. Plum." I felt someone shaking my shoulder. "Ms. Plum?" I opened my eyes and recognized the middle aged doctor from before.

"Yeah?" I croaked.

"How are you feeling this morning? You gave us quite the scare last night." The doctor said. I thought back to the last thing I remembered…..I remembered freaking out when I realized Riley was still out there, I remembered how panicked I felt when Joe touched me and how the thought of anyone, even the doctors, putting their hands on me made my chest tighten and my heart race. I glanced down at my arm, a new IV had been put in. I did a quick mental check of the rest of my body. I was sore, more so than the last time I woke up. I hope I didn't cause any more damage in my impromptu escape effort.

"Sore and tired." I replied.

"That's to be expected." The doctor said nodding. "I've just spoken with a liaison from the FBI, you are going to be moved to another facility. I have spoken with the doctors there and updated them on your condition."

"I am being moved to another facility? Where? How come no one told me this?" I struggled to sit upright in bed.

"The medication we gave you last night was fairly strong. It wasn't really possible for you to speak with anyone. I think they made a quick decision for your safety. I wasn't told the location, just the physicians name so that I could update him on your condition."

"When?"

"Soon I think. I am sending you down to have a CAT scan of your abdomen before you go. I want to make sure that the surgery fixed the bleed before we transfer you." He paused a moment. "I haven't allowed visitors since the incident last night, I wanted to speak with you first. There are some people in the waiting room wanting to see you."

"Who?"

"The liaison from the FBI for starters, a Joseph Morelli and a Ricardo Carlos Manoso have been fairly persistent in requesting to see you."

"Joe Morelli can come in, no one else." The doctor nodded.

"I'll send him in. They will be up to take you down for the CAT scan shortly." The doctor said exiting the room. I was hoping Joe would have some answers as to where I was going and why there was a sudden urge to have me moved to another facility. I couldn't bring myself to analysis how I felt about Ranger right now.

"Cupcake?" Joe said stepping into the room.

"Hey." I whispered, not really sure what to say. Joe walked over to the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Beat up. I just want to go home." Joe sighed.

"Stephanie, I am not sure how much you remember, but your apartment burned down yesterday." Joe looked at me anxiously, not quite sure of the reaction he would get. I had forgotten about that. There had been time in the recent past where I was down on my luck, but never had I ever felt like this. Everything I owned, every piece of clothing, even keep sake, every single possession I had, was gone. Sure I had my family and my parent's house, but that wasn't the same, I didn't have a home to go to. "Cupcake, the FBI is having you transferred to a secure location until Bradshaw is found."

"Has something else happened?" My spidery sense was going off, something was wrong. Joe rubbed his eyes.

"Let's just concentrate on you getting better, leave the worrying up to me."

"Joe, I have a right to know. Tell me what is going on."

"I really don't think that is the best idea right now. You've had a rough couple days and the way you reacted when Tank told you about your apartment really scared me. When we get to the new location I will explain everything." I was going to press the subject further but a nurse entered the room.

"Ms. Plum? I am here to take you down the radiology." The nurse unlocked the wheels on the bed and started to roll me out of the room. "Sir you'll have to stay here."

"I am going with her." Morelli said.

"I am sorry sir but hospital policy won't allow you to go with Ms. Plum. You can wait here until she returns."

"I am with the Trenton PD and Ms. Plum is under protection, I am going with her."

"I am sorry sir, but the doctor insisted that Ms. Plum not have any visitors disturb her, you can speak with him if you'd like but I need to get her down the radiology, you can meet of down there if he approves it." Joe blew out a frustrated sigh.

"Cupcake I am going to speak with the doctor. I'll meet you down there." I watched as Joe stormed out of the room. The hallway was brighter than my room, I blinked at the sudden change in light. Tank was standing just outside my door. When the nurse started to roll me down the hall, he followed.

"Sir." The nurse said blowing out an impatient sigh. " is going down the radiology and she isn't allowed to be accompanied." Tank just ignored her and kept pace with my gurney. "Excuse me sir!" The nurse tried again. Tank shot her a look that could freeze hell. She didn't say anything after that, not even when Tank stepped into the elevator with us.

Tank followed us down all the way to the radiology department. I didn't speak to him and he didn't speak to me as we waited for the radiologist to come get me. Finally I was taken back, Tank had to wait in the hall, he wasn't allowed into the room while my CAT scan was being performed. It was relatively quick, the radiologist came into the room and told me to stay put, he wanted to go look at the films and make sure they came out ok before they transferred me from the table back onto my gurney. I heard the door click shut behind him. A second later the door swung open again. I craned my head to see what he was doing and that's when I saw him….. Riley Bradshaw. I started to struggle but I was still strapped down the bed, held in place for the CAT scan. He was laughing when he came to stand above me. Bile rose in the back of my throat, my breath coming in short painful gasps.

"Hi there Stephanie." He smiled sadistically at me. "How's life?" He reached down to curl his finger around a curl of my hair. "I hear they are moving you to new digs." My heart was pounding in my chest. Seeing him again brought back the horrible images of what he had done to me, the pain I felt, still felt. "I wonder if they'll be moving your friend as well?"

"My friend?" I wheezed. Riley smiled.

"Oh, you didn't know? I paid a visit to your friend Lula last night. I have to say, she was defiantly I must better fuck than you, but of course that is to be expected I guess. She put up quite the fight too I must say." Oh god Lula! How bad was she hurt? Why she alive? My stomach clenched and I had to really focus to keep from passing out. "I told you Miss Steph, you better choose your friends carefully from now on….the ones closest to you are always the one that end up hurt. And I do have to say it was a toss up…..your friend Mary Lou seemed like she had some moves to offer and Connie, I'll bet with a sassy mouth like that she'd be fun." He laughed again. "And your parents…." He mused.

"You…fucker…" I ground out between breathes. He just laughed, his hand moving down to cradle my face.

"You can calm down Stephanie, I am not here to kill you….this time at least. No worries though, your time will come. I just wanted you to know I was serious when I said I would be watching. And not the FBI or the cop or Ricardo can stop me. If I can get to you here, I can get to you anywhere. And this safe house….come on, how stupid are these people, did they not stop to think that maybe I have an inside source? How the hell else do they think I've manage to slip through the cracks this long?" He padded me hard on the cheek. "And rest assured Stephanie, it's not just the FBI I have the jump on…..Cal wasn't the only one I had working with Manoso…. think about that the next time you feel safe with them." He smiled leaning down placing his lips on mine. I struggled to turn my head but he twisted a handful of curls keeping my head from moving. Even though my mouth had gone bone dry with fear, I managed to spit in his face as he pulled away. That was the last thing I remember before pain exploded along my cheek and my world went black.


	9. Chapter 9

RPOV:

I was too angry to sit. I paced around Steph's hospital room like a caged animal. I was pissed with the Fed's, I was pissed with Tank, more than pissed with Morelli, but what it really came down to was, I was disgusted with myself. I should have taken more precautions with Stephanie's safety, but once again I had under estimated Bradshaw, I thought he would wait longer before making any contact. There was some motive behind this. He was fucking with me and using Steph to do it, there was no other reason that he would leave her alive twice after having the opportunity to kill her. And damn if he didn't pick up on one of only two weaknesses I had, my daughter and my babe.

There was a knock on Steph's door. I didn't look up, I knew it would be Bobby. Morelli had left after Stephanie had been moved back upstairs and the doctors assured him that other than a bruised cheek Steph was unhurt. He was meeting with the Fed's, trying to have Stephanie moved to a safe house immediately. Little did he know that before he got back she would already be gone.

"Ric, we're ready."

I placed some calls to acquaintances in high places and made sure we wouldn't be stopped when I sprung Steph; doesn't mean they agreed with it or approved it, just meant I had a slim window when eyes would be looking in the opposite direction. I watched as Bobby administered something into Steph's IV line, waited for the medication to go in and then disconnected the port from the tubing, leaving the IV site hep locked for later use if needed. He quickly shut off the other monitors and removed the blood pressure cuff from Steph's upper arm. He unlocked the wheels and pushed the bed out into the hallway. The hall was void of the FBI agents that had been watching the door and the nurse's desk was unusually empty. We wheeled the gurney to the service elevator and rode it down to the ground floor. Tank was waiting with the Tahoe running. I picked Steph up, being careful of her injuries and slide into the back seat. As horrible as the circumstance was, I couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt to have Steph tucked in my arms, her weight settled in my lap and head snuggled into the cradle of my shoulder. I'd like to think the relaxed look on her face was because she was comfortable in my arms, but I knew it had more to do with the drugs Bobby had given her to ensure a smooth transition. The first part was over, but I knew I wouldn't breathe a sigh of relief until I had Steph hidden away, far from Bradshaw's reach.

Author's note: Sorry the chapter is so short…I just wanted to reassure everyone that Ranger was coming to the rescue! More to come, both Steph and Ranger have a lot to work out


	10. Update!

UPDATE:

I've had a lot of e-mail and reviews asking me to finish this story. I apologize that I have not done so sooner. But now that I have the time, I wanted to let you all know I am planning on finishing it and hope to have a new chapter posted by the end of the weekend. Additionally, I have some other stories I have been working on to post. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10:

ROV:

The flight from The New Jersey to Miami was uneventful. As a precaution I arranged three Rangeman flights to leave the Trenton area, and from their landing cities varies other flights to different locations in hopes of keeping Steph's where abouts a secret. I was playing this operation, if you could call it that, as close to the vest as possible. Only my core team, knew our final destination.

"Ric?" Blake, my half brother's voice, brought me out of my thoughts. "Ric? Do you agree?"

"Agree with what?" I'd obviously missed some sort of conversation, very out of norm for me.

"That we keep Stephanie sedated until we get to the safe house?" Blake asked again.

"As long as you and Bobby don't feel it will cause her any harm." I replied. Blake looked over the monitors Steph was hooked up to. Unlike myself, Blake never had any intentions of being a solider for the rest of his life; the Army put him through medical school, and once his debt was paid, he got out. I could not count the number of times his expertise had saved one of my men since then.

"It's not ideal, especially with her recent head injury. I'd like her conscious enough to do nuero checks every hour, but we also can't have her in hysterics pulling out tubing and risking rupturing her sutures either."

"Then we had better keep her sedated for the next month." Bobby muttered under his breath.

"Once this bird gets up in the air, I need to know what's really going on if I am going to be able to treat her." Blake said turning his attention from Steph to myself.

I'd called in a major favor from an Ex-army buddy who was still as much a part of the governments most clandestine of organizations as I was, to get us out of the country undetected. Very few knew the location of this safe house, and there was no way it could be traced back to Rangeman. It was the most secure location I had, because it was the only place I truly considered my home.

"You have her medical records, and I am sure Bobby filled you in. Not sure what else you need to know." I replied, knowing exactly what Blake was asking. In addition to being a M.D. who completed his fellowship in Emergency Medicine, Blake had gotten a PhD in psychology, though he never actually practiced within the field. I reached over placing my hand in Steph's casted one as I felt the plane wheels leave the tarmac and begin to ascend.

"Ric, you have got to be straight with me. For Stephanie's sake and your own." Blake replied.

I sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"I don't need any of the physical details, I can get that from her chart. Treating her physical injuries will be the easy part. What I need to know is her personality type, how she deals with stressors, how she has reacted to things thus far, and" Blake paused, meeting my stare dead on. "I need the no bullshit version of your relationship with her."

"Bombshell's real sassy, lots of attitude. She doesn't take much shit from anyone." My chest tightened at Lester's words.

"She's got a big heart. She puts on a tough exterior so you sometimes don't realize it, but things affect her emotionally more than she lets on." Bobby added. "I like to equate her to an Ostrich, sometimes she just likes to put her head in the sand, pretend everything is ok, and let it all pass. I've learned my lesson though, you can't let her fool you, she's smart and stubborn, if she feels trapped, she'll do anything and everything to make it out, including endangering herself."

"So then we should be prepared for ill rational behavior that may place her in further danger." Blake mused.

"I think from the start Bradshaw has played Steph's lack of personal knowledge about Ric to his advantage." Tank supplied. "When we first attempted to move her to a secure location, a lot of her fear and anxiety seemed to be based off Ric's presence. I had suggested Ric keep his distance until things settled down."

"How did she react to that?" Blake asked.

"First opportunity she got she attempted to escape, got caught outside in a storm. It took us nearly an hour to find her, by then she had injured her arm and ankle, and suffered a mild case of hypothermia from exposure. After, Ric rarely left her side. And surprisingly, rather than his presence causing fear, she seemed comforted by him."

"Then it'll be important for you to remain a constant during her recovery." Blake said, directing his attention toward me again.

"It's not like last time. She didn't think I not only allowed, but encouraged her to be raped by a monster last time!" My rage was barely controllable at the thought of what had happened.

"Regardless, if Bradshaw's only offense is to confuse Stephanie into believing things that are not true. Our only defense is ensuring you give her every opportunity to learn the truth. I am not saying it's going to be easy. I am sure there will be moments that will tear your fucking heart out. But if you don't give her any reason to fear you or doubt your intentions, Bradshaw won't have any control over her."

"We are still at a disadvantage. Bradshaw could have told her anything and I doubt she'll ever understand why Ric did what he did."

"Our first priority is her safety, we'll do everything we can to ensure she doesn't do anything stupid. And with time, I have all the confidence Bradshaw's lies will lose control over her. You all need to be prepared for the brunt of her anger and emotions to be directed toward you."

I could feel Blake stare and knew what he was waiting for, but I wasn't sure I was able to put into words the answers he needed. I am sure my team knew the depth of my feelings for Steph, despite never hearing me speak of them. Not that any of it matted any more. Regardless of how I felt, my only concern was for my Babe, and I was more than willing to disappear if that was what she wanted. Anything to stop her for further pain.

"Nothing matters but her." I stated.

"That much I could gather. I highly doubt you'd go through all of this trouble for a fuck buddy." Blake replied.

I launched myself across the aisle of plane, my hands going around Blake's neck. "Don't you ever speak of Stephanie like that!" I could feel Tank and Bobby attempting to pull me off of my brother.

"But….you….do….have…..a…sexual relationship….with…her." Blake managed to gasp despite my choking him.

"Our sexual relationship is no one's business but mine and Stephanie's!" Finally, Tank and Bobby were able to pull me off of Blake.

Through coughs, Blake managed to say, "But it is." He cleared his throat again. "And if Stephanie is going to ever have the chance of getting over any of this, every detail of your relationship is everyone in this planes business."

As the red began to fade from my vision, I was able to rationalize just what my brother's intentions were. Anyone I trusted Stephanie's life with, needed to know every detail of her life, including my feelings and relationship with her, if they were going to be able to distinguish truth from lies.

"Don't do that again." I ground out. Despite Blake's understanding of the human brain and impeccable knowledge of how operator's minds like my own worked, I've never allowed him to make me lose control like that. "I got your point. If you have any further questions. I understand the importance of answering them." I took a breath. "Yes, we have had a sexual relationship."

"Had?" Blake pressed.

"Twice. We've slept together twice."

"So your relationship was merely of friendship?" I knew what he was implying.

"I've had my reasons for keeping my distance. If this isn't s sterling example, I don't know what is."

"And what happens when all this is over? You're going to disappear into the sunset?"

"I don't know."


End file.
